The Moondarks
by blueratwarrior
Summary: Moondark is a northern tribe like no other, where beasts of all species join and live. The moondarks suffered under a new leader. Avery, a squirrel, managed to get away, but he lost one thing in doing so. His memory.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own nothing, well, except for my own characters and plot. Otherwise, nothing is mine :(

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Darkness. That's all I see. I move my body, but there's nothing there. Is this a dream? Probably. Why do I feel so helpless? If it's just a dream…

This is a dream. It has to be. I'm still alive… aren't I? Wait… a red glow in the distance. What is it? I approach it, but it doesn't get any closer. Where am I?

A blinding flash of light. I cover my eyes, but my paws are as black as the darkness. The place is lit up, and I see a large, circular room. Have I been here before? My memory fails me. I see something move. I take a closer look. A ferret.

I see the ferret on the ground. It looks at me with cold blue eyes. It's holding a dagger, but it can't hurt me. I know this because of the blood stained clothes, and the sword that goes all the way through him.

"What is this?" I ask. The ferret gives me a cold smile and answers.

"This is your past."

---

Morning rays illuminated the room where Avery slept. The squirrel yawned and stretched, waking up from a disturbing sleep. He didn't remember what the dream had been about, but he remembered it was disturbing.

He got up and looked around. It was a small room, small but cozy. He had stayed in it since the beginning of winter, when he had been warned by a group of Hedgehogs that it would be tough to travel in the storm and snow. He'd looked for a place to stay, and found a pleasant family of mice that let him stay with them.

Avery had been traveling across the land for as long as he could remember; which wasn't much, since he could only remember the last two seasons or so. He was used to strange dreams, ones that haunted him at night but couldn't remember upon waking up.

He looked down at himself. His fur was mostly black, with specks of dark brown in different places. The brown was almost unnoticeable, so it looked like he was all black fur. He wasn't too tall, a bit shorter than average, in fact, but he was lean and thin.

He heard someone moving around in the house. It was probably the youngest of the mice, up for a little snack. He smiled and got up, thinking it might be fun to scare her. He sneaked quietly behind her, and as she turned around he jumped in front of her.

She looked frightened for a second, then smiled and laughed. He smiled at her too and walked away, back to his room. He lay back on his bed, thinking. While scaring the little mouse he had felt something, like a memory trying to be noticed. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the time, a season ago, when he had woken up without any idea who he was or where he was.

_--- _

_"Hey, mate, I found 'un!" The voice of an otter sounded above me. I opened my eyes, and found an otter standing above me. I was on the ground._

_"Where?" I heard a different otter's voice. Turning my head, I saw another one looking down at me. "Are you sure it's one of _ them_?" It, or rather he, asked._

_"Look at it's fur, Will, what do you think?" The other one answered._

_"If it really was one of _them, _wouldn't it be trying to run away?" The one called Will responded._

_I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that my head hurt horribly and that I felt a strange instinct to run away as far as my legs could carry me._

_"Looks like it has a name…" The otter said, looking down at something on the floor. He picked it up. It was a sword. "This yours?" He asked, talking to me for the first time._

_I didn't know what do. _Was_ it mine? I shrugged, and the otter looked at me strangely. He turned the sword over and looked at the hilt. "Hey Will, come and read this for me." He passed the sword to the otter known as Will. He looked at it._

_"It says Avery. Is that your name?" He asked me. Feeling even dumber I shrugged again. "Well, as far as my knowledge of swords go, this is a good sword. And it looks a lot like one of theirs, though with a different design." He continued, looking at the markings on the sword. He looked at me again. "Do you know _anything_?" I thought for a moment, but my mind was like an empty shell. Or, more like a locked door, and I had lost the key to it._

_The two otters took my silence as a no. "Well, if it's not yours you wouldn't mind me keeping it, would you?" The otter that was not Will asked. I didn't know why, but anger flared inside me. I jumped up and snatched the sword away with skill I was unaware I had. The two otters stood there, looking at me, for a few seconds. My instinct was screaming at me to leave, to run, to get away from the otters, but my legs would not respond._

_"So you _are_ one of them, aren't you?" Will asked, taking a few steps closer to me. With a trained eye I saw him reach for a weapon, and it was then that I began running. I ran as fast as I could, trusting my instinct and not looking back. I felt something pass next to my ear, an arrow._

_I ran until I couldn't, then I fell to the floor, exhausted and with a painful headache._

---

Avery opened his eyes again. The memory made his head hurt, since it brought so many unanswerable questions. After he had woken up he had began traveling, and he had learned to hide his sword from view. Whoever 'them' were, many beasts around the area knew of them and were afraid. He was attacked many times only to survive by trusting his instincts, which often told him to do strange things.

Not that long ago he'd heard from a traveling shrew that there was a place to the south called Wallred, or something of the sort. The shrew had said that it was an abbey, filled with beasts and food, that helped out any beast in need.

The place had sparked something in his memory, but he couldn't put his paw on it. All he knew was that he had to go to that abbey, for reasons he left his unconscious mind deal with. He heard a knock on the door, and a second later the small face of Mibbie, The mouse wife, appeared at the door. "D'you want breakfast, Avery?" She asked kindly. He smiled and nodded, she turned around and went out the door.

No one knew how old he was, since he didn't know himself. He knew he was still in his youth, but whenever other beasts met him they told him there was just something about the way he acted that hinted at maturity past youth. He knew staying in the room would do him no good, so he got up and went to the dinning room, where plates were already set and the rest of the family was chatting carelessly about one thing or another.

He uttered a unenthusiastic 'good morning' and sat down on an empty chain. The little mouse maid that he had scared that morning looked at him and smiled.

"Good monin" She said in a cheery voice. Breakfast was usually a cheerful affair at that house, one of which Avery usually participated in. That morning, however, Avery's mind was elsewhere. He had looked out the window and noticed that the snow had began to melt, and that winter would soon be over. He was quiet during breakfast, listening rather than talking.

"I suppose ye won't be with us much longer, Avery?" Mibbie asked him after they had finished breakfast.

"No. I have to leave soon, I want to get there as soon as possible." He said. He'd told them about the abbey, but none of them seemed to have heard of it. The mouse known as Harvy, Mibbie's husband stood up.

"I reckon ye can leave by today if ye have the proper gear." He said. Avery wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a bit of urgency in the mouse's voice. He nodded. "If you would like, I could give you some of my old winter clothes so you could go." He suggested. Avery nodded.

It was cold outside, and the snow covered the land as far as Avery could see. The mouse's house was built into a cave, so he wasn't able to see the whole landscape until he went out. Harvy was going to accompany him until he reached the forest, which was a few minutes walk away from their home.

Avery wrapped his clothes closer to him as he began to walk. A look backward and he saw the whole family waving goodbye. He raised his paw and waved at them a few times before turning back and continuing to walk.

"Listen… I- have to tell you something." Harvy said once they'd reached the forest. Avery's instinct began to act, telling him to leave. He didn't listen to it. What could a mouse that had helped him during a whole season do to him?

"Yes?"

"I- I think I know where you're from." He said. I looked at him, a question half-formed in my mouth. "Quiet! I'm not going to tell you what I believe, but I can tell you one thing; you don't want to know." Avery continued to stare at him, not sure what to think. "I'm no longer able to help you, or keep you from the truth, but when you find out, don't let it interfere."

"With what?" Avery asked. He didn't understand why Harvy was saying all of if. "If you know something about me, tell me! I want to know." He said. Harvy shook his head. Avery felt anger rise in him. Why did the mouse do that?

"Just- just remember what I said." He said and turned back. "Ill probably never see you again." Before he could stop himself, he made a movement with his paws. One went behind his back and another one looking for something around his arm. He stopped what he was doing. Had he been an archer also? If so, what had he been about to do? He shuddered at the thought and put both paws down beside him. He began to walk into the forest, not bothering to check his compass and only mildly surprised when he noticed he had been walking in the right direction anyway.

He walked for the rest of the day, although he knew he didn't get too far. He stopped for lunch around midday and stopped walking when the sun set. He climbed up a small tree, one without any leaves and covered in snow. He watched the snow fall as he shook the branch a little and tried to make himself comfortable.

He thought of many things he'd tried to ignore as he sat there, looking up through the snow covered branches at the sky above. Like how he was easy to anger by a single comment that seemed not to matter to anyone else. It was as unexplained as the bird now flying down toward him.

He looked at it, hardly noticing it while his mind was off doing other things, when he felt a sharp pain in his ear. He looked over at the bird, which was perched next to him. It had pecked him in the ear.

"Hmm… Well, ye'll 'ave t' do, aye." It said, fixing him with a silent and fierce stare. Avery backed away a little. "Don't ye shy away now, tree mouse. I need yer help" Avery looked at him, confused about what to think.

"What do you need help with?" He asked. Whatever it was, he doubted he had a choice in the matter. That beak looked dangerously sharp.

"I jus' found a body, I did. Aye, a weerel one." Avery looked at the bird. He supposed 'weerel' meant weasel, but there was just no way to tell with these creatures.

"What do you need help with?" He asked, his voice cautious.

"I need ye t' see if 'e's among th' livin." Avery looked at the bird. It's accent was beginning to annoy him, so the quicker he dealt with it the sooner he'd be able to sleep. He didn't bother telling the bird that it could have easily checked that itself, but followed a good distance away as the bird led him to the 'weerel'.

They walked (or at least Avery did) for about five minutes before stopping next to what seemed to be a furry lump. A closer look told Avery that it wasn't a furry lump, but a ferret. A living ferret. Something struggled to rise in his unconscious as he watched the ferret draw deep, ragged breaths. He carefully turned it over, and once he did he saw a dagger embedded into the ferret's stomach. He removed it carefully, expecting to see blood begin to dribble out of the wound again.

He put the dagger down beside him and examined the ferret. It wasn't too old, a bit older than him, if he were to place a guess. It was also a male. He didn't seem to be wounded other that the hole in his stomach, but he probably wouldn't survive anyway, with a big hole in his stomach and hardly a coat.

He turned around to tell the bird the ferret was alive, but it was gone. He shrugged to himself and looked down at the ferret. He sighed and picked up the dagger on the floor, looking at some markings at the hilt. The hilt had a blue dagger drawn on it. He wiped the blood off of it on the snow and a bit of cloth, then put it in his pocket. He looked over at the ferret again, somehow feeling responsible for him. He sighed at his own stupidity and picked the ferret up by his arm. He put it around his own shoulder and began to walk back toward his 'camp'.

He lay down in the snow, too tired to get back up on the tree. He'd taken out a spare blanket and wrapped it around the unconscious ferret. He'd then made a small fire to melt the snow around them. He watched as the embers of the fire burned the twigs and pieces of bark he'd thrown in. A few thoughts clouded his mind.

What was he doing in the middle of a frozen forest, sitting by an unconscious ferret? Weren't ferrets considered vermin? Wasn't it the belief of most 'good beasts' to be cautious around vermin, as they were treacherous? Yet, as part of his mind thought those disturbing questions, another part didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the situation.

He watched the embers a little while longer, thinking about other things and finally managing to fall asleep.

---

(A/N: This is my first attempt at a story like this, so please R&R. Anything's helpful, I need to know how good it was. Thanks!)


	2. ch 2 Biarie Lightpaw

(Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them. Enjoy!)

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_"Not like that. Like.. This. See the difference?" A squirrel is talking. It shows me the proper way to hold a sword. "No. You're doing it wrong. Put your paw _there._" He smiles. "Good."_

I smile also. I like it when he says something good to me. "Now, swing the sword." He says. I smile and do so. He smiles back. "Well, it seems there is something you're good at, son." The squirrel says.

I put the sword down. I look up at him. "Dad?" I ask. He smiles. "Why is uncle Brod looking at us like that?" I say, looking past the squirrel to another one behind him.

He smiles and pats me on the head. "Go play somewhere else." He says as he gets up and walks toward the squirrel behind him. I shrug and walk away.

I walk past many beasts until I get to a young, rather kind looking squirrel. She smiles at me and gives me something. I smile back and leave. As I walk, I see many beasts around me. Squirrels, mice, otters, ferrets, weasels, rats, foxes, shrews; basically anything ranging from the kindest, smallest mouse, to the most ferocious, gigantic wildcat. The only thing they had in common was their black fur.

As I walk by a group of beasts my own age, they begin to snicker and sing.

Little Avery,  
Little Avery,  
Where's your father,  
Where's your mother?  
Will you tell them,  
Won't you tell them,  
You can't even hold a dagger.

_---_

"Wake up! You, wake up!" Avery groaned and turned over, still in his sleep. He opened one eye, but it was enough to notice that it was already morning. He sat up groggily, looking over at the ferret. He was awake, and he didn't seem very wounded. In fact, it seemed to be struggling to get out of the blankets Avery had given him.

"Want some help?" Avery asked as he came closer. The ferret looked at him and snarled.

"It's about time you're up. I don't know how long I've been shouting at you! But you'd just turn over an' say something like 'it's too early, dad' or 'I was up all night'." The ferret said looking at him from under the covers. "Who are you anyway?"

"Me? I'm Avery. Who're you?" He said off-handedly as he helped the ferret get out of the blankets. After a minute or so, he managed to do it. He looked over at the ferret, who seemed to have some trouble standing up. Avery looked at him.

He was obviously taller than Avery, but that wasn't saying much, since most grown beasts were. He looked like a normal ferret, light brown fur, black eyes, average sized. Avery didn't blame the ferret for having trouble while getting up, he doubted many beasts could do so with a hole in their stomach.

"I'm Biarie Lightpaw, son of Kindur Lightpaw." He said proudly. He tried to take a step forward and fell.

"Sorry, but I have no clue who Kindur Lightpaw is. How'd that happen anyway?" He said, waving his paw in his stomach's direction.

"My father, being the best assassin around, has many enemies." Biarie responded. Avery looked at him skeptically.

"If your father's all that great, where is he? I don't know about you, but if _I _was an assassin with enemies, I'd keep a closer watch on my family." He said, getting closer and helping the ferret up.

"Yes, but unfortunately, he's dead. " Biarie looked down, apparently sad. Avery was about to say something to make him feel better, when a thought struck him.

"Wait… didn't you just say your father _is_ an assassin? Wouldn't you say he _ was _one if he was dead?" He stopped what he was doing and tried to make eye contact with the ferret.

"Well, you know what I mean, it's hard enough without beasts like you making it harder." He sniffled loudly. "Kaydor Lightpaw-" Avery cut him off.

"Didn't you just say his name was Kindur?"

"Well… I- um, guess I did- but, I- well, Kindur was his real name and- um, Kaydom was his nickname…" He looked around shiftily, finally deciding to stare at the ground.

"Kaydom?" Avery said, half-laughing. "You just said Kaydor!"

"That was his other nickname, he had- um- two nicknames." Avery couldn't help but notice how he wouldn't look at him directly.

"I can't believe you! I save your life-"

"You didn't save my life, I could have lived-"

"With a dagger in your stomach and freezing to death. Yeah, you could definitely have survived."

"See, even you agree with me."

"Ever heard of sarcasm?"

"Once or twice."

"You're hopeless." Avery said, giving up the argument. He turned around and picked up his belongings. "I'm going." He said and gave the ferret a last glance. "You can follow if you want." With that he began to walk away.

"Wait!" He heard the ferrets voice from behind him. He looked backward. Biarie seemed to be thinking hard. He looked over from the burnt logs on the ground, to Avery's sword, to his own bandaged wound. "I'm going." He said decisively. He walked a little to catch up. They began to walk.

"So… what's your real name?" Avery asked him after walking in silence for a little while.

"Biarie Lightpaw." He said again.

"You don't honestly believe I'll fall for that."

"It's the truth. See, my name is one of the things about me that I don't like to forget and lie about." Avery looked at him.

"Why would you want to forget things about yourself?"

"Come on, don't tell me you have never before wanted to forget about something or other in your past." Biarie said, looking at Avery.

"Can't say I have. I don't remember most of my past anyway."

"Lucky." Biarie muttered.

"So, what did your father really do, anyway?" He asked to get off the topic.

"My father was a pirate. But not the captain, or the first mate, or anything of the sort. He was at the lowest level a pirate could be." He sighed.

"What happened to him?"

"Died. Somebeast thought it would be funny to tell him he could hold his breath long enough to swim to the bottom of the ocean. My father, not being the brightest beast on the planet, believed him. That was the last I ever saw of him. My mother didn't like being a pirate, so when we went to land to plunder off some poor otter village, me and my mom snuck out and left. Needless to say, she didn't know much about living on land. Died about a week after from eating a poisonous mushroom."

Avery stared at him. Should he believe the ferret? "How'd you get stabbed by a dagger?"

"Well, um, I'd rather not say…" He looked over at Avery, whose eyebrows were raised expectantly. "Well, you see, I'm not that skilled with the dagger, so I decided to try to train a little… I was trying to, um, do something complicated and, um, I slipped. Next thing I knew I was awake next to a dying fire, covered in blankets, and laying next to a sleeping squirrel." He shook his head. "I can't believe I just told you that."

Avery had to try hard to suppress a laugh. "So you stabbed yourself with your own dagger?" He said, trying to sound serious. Biarie nodded. "And your name is Bir- Biar- Brair- Brieri- um, can I call you Biar?" Biarie looked at Avery and nodded. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

"um, Avery?" Biar said after a while.

"Yes?"

"Where are we going?"

"South." Biar stopped for a little bit.

"South where?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"To Mossflower."

"…" Biar didn't say anything else. He was considering weather or not it was a good idea to ask Avery _what _Mossflower was, but decided against it. He'd find out in due time.

"It's a forest." Avery said minutes later, after neither of them had spoken.

"Oh."

---

Hours later, after a day of walking, Biar and Avery were on the hard ground in the forest, trying to sleep. They hadn't talked much while they walked, and now neither was uttering a word to the other. Biar went to sleep first, his snores filling the air around Avery. Avery sighed, wishing he could fall asleep also, but not being able to.

_Biar_, he thought. _It sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before? _He focused his mind on trying to remember where he had heard the name before, but he wasn't able to come up with anything. He knew it was futile, his past was as hidden from him as it had ever been.

---

I'm here again. In the circular room. With the ferret. I'm looking at it. It's looking at me. I remember my last dream. How? The ferret continues to smile coldly up at me. I don't feel frightened, I feel oddly at ease. I look down at my own paws.

Blood. There's blood on my paws. I don't know how it got there, but there's blood. I try to remember, and I do. I remember how the blood appeared on my paws. I remember the events that lead up to this. I look down at the ferret, and I even remember it's name.

"This is the past." I say. My voice sounds hollow, I hardly recognize it.

"Yes, but you know what it means." The ferret answers. I nod.

"It means that the poison's wearing off. How long until I remember it all?" I have stopped staring at my paws. I am watching the ferret carefully.

"You won't remember it all until it is told to you. Bits and pieces, that's all you will manage to recover from your dreams." The ferret's smile has disappeared . It's eyes begin to close.

"It's better than nothing." I answer, but I'm not sure if that's true. The ferret's eyes finish closing, and it's breathing stops. "Thank you, Briad." I whisper.

---

"Briad…" Avery muttered. His eyes slowly opened. It was still dark. Memories of his last dream flashed across his mind, but the realization that had dawned on him during it was gone. Within a few minutes all he was able to remember about the dream was that there had been a dead ferret in it. Well, it was better than before, when he hadn't remembered the dream at all.

He looked to his side and saw that Biar was still asleep, tossing and turning. Avery frowned. His dreams must not be that pleasant either. Avery turned back around and tried to fall asleep again.

It was like that for the rest of the night, but Avery didn't manage to fall asleep. The sun rose into the sky hours later, with Avery already up and preparing something for breakfast. He heard a yawn behind him.

"Mornin' Avey." Biar said as he stretched and sat up. "What're you makin'?"

"Breakfast. Since when did you decide to call me 'Avey'?" Avery said, stopping for a moment to look at Biar.

"Since I woke up and decided that 'Avery' is longer than 'Avey'." Biar got up and sat down next to Avery. He sniffed the food and smiled. "When will it be ready?"

"When it's ready." Avery answered and turned back to the food.

Avery and Biar started to walk again after breakfast. Avery had to admit to himself that the ferret was stronger than he looked; he doubted many beasts would be able to walk and talk as he did after being stabbed in the stomach by their own daggers.

"I had a dream last night." Avery said for no reason at all.

"You had a dream? Weird. You know what's even stranger? All beasts have dreams." Biar said sarcastically.

"I thought you didn't know what sarcasm was. Anyway, I usually don't remember my dreams." Avery said coldly.

"Lucky you. I remember mine." His face darkened momentarily. "All of mine."

Avery ignored Biar's obvious change of mood. "I dreamt of a dead ferret."

"Nice to know, Avey."

"What do you dream about?" Avery didn't know why, but he felt talkative today.

"Things you don't. If you don't want me to lie to you anymore, stop asking me stupid questions." Biar said moodily. Avery sighed and continued walking in silence.

They came out of the forest at around midday. They stopped at its borders for some lunch, then kept walking. Once out of the forest they were able to see some mountains a few day's walk away.

"Mountains." Biar said. "_Mountains_. I have a hole in my stomach and you expect me to climb _mountains_." He said whiningly.

"You don't have to come with me, you know." Avery said, not even bothering to look in his direction. "You could always go back to the forest and see how long you survive before stabbing yourself again. It's not like it's _my_ fault you're wounded."

"You know what? Just because of that I will go with you. Then, if I die in the mountain, you'll feel guilty." Avery saw him look at the mountains warily. "Yeah, very guilty."

"m-hmm" Avery said distractedly. He thought he'd just seen the bird again, but it must have been his imagination. Even so, he kept glancing back toward the forest uneasily. His instinct just wouldn't let him leave it alone.

"Do watch where you're going, you almost walked right on me." The voice wasn't Biar's, it belonged to a rather small female otter. Avery looked down and saw her standing in front of him. The small otter was quite a sight. Her fur was naturally brown, but the tips of it was dyed black. She turned her small, round eyes on them, but looked mainly at Avery. He saw her face light up with recognition. "Fancy meeting you here, lil' Avery."

---

(Please review, I want to know what you think!)


	3. ch 3 the cousin

(Thanks for all the reviews, everyone. I really like them. Sorry to have taken so long… I hope to get on a better schedule soon. Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to R 

"Wh-what'd you say?" Avery asked, hardly aware that his voice was high-pitched. He looked at Biar for a second, and saw that he looked as confused as he felt.

"You surprise me, Avery. I knew you were a bit slow, but deaf too?" He saw the otter smile. "Don't you remember me? I'm Moonskie." Avery continued to look at the otter. He had never heard the name before.

"I- I don't know who you are." Avery said warily. "How do you know me?" He watched as her face broke unto a bemused smile. She continued staring at him, hardly blinking.

"So these are the means you'd go through to get away… interesting, but unnecessary." Her smile lit up a little. "You really _don't_ remember me, do you?" Avery shook his head. Moonskie looked over at Biar and turned around. "Well, perhaps it is better that you don't know. I mean, you've only said a few words and I already like you better than before." She turned back, smiling brightly.

"I have _no _clue what you're talking about." Avery said, but even as he said it he couldn't shake the feeling that she seemed somehow familiar. "What do you mean, before?" She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted.

"Hasty, aren't you?" A voice came from behind them. Avery felt himself move away from the voice instinctively. He knew the voice. He didn't remember ever hearing the voice before, but he knew who it belonged to. He had to run. Fast.

He turned around and saw a squirrel. He looked older than Avery, at least by a little. His eyes were amber colored, yet dull and cold. The squirrel took a step toward them. He noticed Moonskie flinched backward also.

"What's going on…?" He heard Biar ask. A swift look to the side told him Biar was still there. Avery took another step backward, seeing Moonskie do the same.

"Leaving already? Where are your manners, Avery?" The squirrel took another step forward. It's fur was completely black, although something about it suggested it was dyed. "Don't you remember me, cousin?" It was then that Avery decided to run. He pulled at Biar's sleeve to instruct him to leave. Avery looked at one side and noticed Moonskie was also waiting to run.

He took a deep breath. His hand slowly strayed to where he had placed Biar's dagger. He took it out and flung it at the squirrel. Not bothering to see if he had managed to hit him, he turned around and ran.

Avery ran as fast as he could, hardly noticing Biar and Moonskie running behind him. He ran for an indeterminable amount of time, finally collapsing unto the ground. He heard two bodies fall on the ground a few moments after him.

;-;-;

"What's the matter, cousin? Can't you reach?" The cold voice comes from the squirrel in front of me. His grin spreads as I try to get the apple he is holding above his head.

"Give it back." I growl at him and jump to get the apple. He holds it higher above me and laughs.

"What's wrong, little Avery?" He says mockingly. "My dad says you need to toughen up anyway." He grins down at me and puts the apple within my reach. I stretch out my paw to try to get it, but he pulls it back again.

He laughs, then stops. He looks at me and smiles, then takes a bite out of the apple.

"Your dad only says that because he's jealous of mine." I say with more confidence than I feel as I watch him take another bite out of the apple.

"Yeah, you go ahead and think that if it makes you feel better." He says and waves the apple in front of me. I growl and attempt to attack him. He fends me off easily and throws me on the ground. "Remember this, cousin. I will always be better than you."

;-;-;

Avery awoke sharply, with the memory of his dream still fresh in his mind. He thought of it, feeling both surprised and confused that he retained the memory of his dream. He wasn't sure if it was a real memory, or if it was just a dream. He sighed and tried to sit up, but his muscles were sore and it was painful. He thought about why that might be so, when he remembered running earlier. The sky was dark and he could hear the snores coming from Biar.

He looked to his side and saw both Biar and Moonskie asleep on the ground. With painful effort he managed to get up. He walked around a little to get his legs used to it. When he came back to where he had slept, he noticed Moonskie was waking up. She looked up and saw him.

"Hello." She yawned. "Nice little run, huh?" He continued to stare at her, then a thought came to his head. If she knew his name, then there was a chance she might actually know more about his past. It was worth a shot.

"Hi. I was- well, I was wondering if- if you know weather he- the squirrel we talked to- is my… cousin." Avery said, breaking eye contact and looking at the floor.

He heard her sigh, then sit up straighter. "Yes. He is your cousin. Your father's brother's son." She said lightly. He looked up again, but noticed she was looking at the floor.

"So… you know who I am, right? You know my past?" Avery asked. She didn't bother looking up.

"I know as much about you as you let anyone know." She said cryptically. She looked up into his eyes, but Avery felt confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you were a secretive beast. The only beast who 'knows who you are' is you." She continued staring at him. "Well, maybe," she hesitated for a moment. "Another beast might have known you. Well, at least better than anyone else."

"Who?" He asked eagerly. He leaned forward.

"Well… I can't really say… seeing as he's dead." She said slowly. He backed away again and sighed.

"Well, don't you know _anything _about my past?" He asked pleadingly.

"I do… but I don't want to tell you." She said stubbornly, looking directly into his eyes.

"Why not?" He continued to stare at her, and she finally looked down at the ground.

"Because. I told you. I like you better now than I did before." She looked up again. He looked at her angrily. "Listen. I'm sorry you don't remember your past, but did you ever consider there's a _reason_ for it?"

"No. I always figured I hit my head or something." He muttered. Moonskie looked at him bemusedly. "_what?_"

"It's just that… you're so naïve!" She smiled sadly. "Listen. If you knew yourself back then, you'd realize you wouldn't accidentally hit yourself on the head hard enough to lose your memory. It's obvious it was poison, although weather it was intentional or not is beyond me."

"Poison?" Avery continued to look at her with disbelief. Even so, he couldn't shake the feeling something about what she had just said sparked something in his subconscious. He opened his mouth to ask another question when he heard Biar get up.

"Ahh…my poor, poor, sore muscles… The pain…" He complained loudly as he dragged his body toward the spot where Avery and Moonskie were sitting. He stopped upon arriving there. There was a few seconds of awkward silence, finally broken by Biar. "What's goin' on here…?" He asked slowly, looking from Moonskie to Avery.

"Nothing." They responded at the same time. Biar looked at them suspiciously.

"Nothing? Well then, can I ask a question? Why did we run away from that squirrel back there?" He asked, still sounding a bit suspicious.

"Because he's Avery's cous-" Moonskie started to say, but was interrupted by Avery.

"Because he's trouble." Avery said. He didn't bother to look Biar in the eyes.

"What do you mean he's trouble? Where do you know him from? I thought you said you remembered nothing." Biar said indignantly.

"Well… even if you do lose your memory the way Avery did, you still get bits and pieces back, and it's not exactly easy to forget one of the most cold, cruel hearted beasts that ever lived; especially if they're your cousin and rival." Moonskie said shortly after. "Anyway, I really don't want to talk about it so… I would rather like to know two things. One, where are you going and why, and two, how in the _world_ did you get that?" She said the last part while pointing at Biar's stomach.

Biar looked around uncomfortably, and decided to ignore the question. "I'm Biarie Lightpaw, nice to meet you." He said trivially.

"Yeah… I'm Moonskie, but you can call me Moon. Everyone used to." She smiled sadly.

"I'll tell you where we're going if you tell me how you know me." Avery said.

"I'll tell you where you're from if you tell me how he got a hole in his stomach." Biar opened his mouth to complain when Avery shook her paw.

"Deal." He looked at Biar. "He stabbed himself while practicing with a dagger." He said quickly. "Now you go." He leaned in eagerly.

She smiled. "Not not too skilled with the dagger, are you?" She asked in good humor. Her expression changed as she turned to face Avery again. "Do you _really_ want to know where you're from?" She asked. There was almost a pleading tone about the way she said it.

"_Yes!_" He said eagerly.

"Fine." Avery smiled with enthusiasm. Biar looked between the two and shook his head. He couldn't help thinking that something very wrong was happening when Moon began to talk.

"Well, the first thing you should know is that you were from a clan. A large clan by the name of Moondark. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I belonged to that clan also. In that clan any type of beast could be seen, mice, squirrels, foxes, wolves, wildcats, ferrets, badgers, and all of them. The only thing we all had in common in appearance was that we all had black fur. Even those that weren't lucky enough to be born with it had to dye theirs black. You were born a season and some time after me, and you were one of the lucky few who was naturally black. Just to let you know what I mean by lucky, let me give you an example. Of the tons of beasts in the clan, only three families had naturally brown fur. Yours, a ferret one, and a fox family." She stopped for a moment to see what effect her words had on Avery, but he was still staring at her expectantly, waiting hungrily for more information.

"Now, you must understand how the clan works. The leader of the clan was reelected every four seasons to be fair to all beast and give everyone a chance to try to be leader, even if they weren't from royal blood. For about twenty seasons one beast kept winning the elections over and over. Of course, that beast deserved it. He was the best leader the clan could ever hope for. He was your father, Avery." She looked at him, almost expecting some kind of old buried pride come to his face at the memory of his father. Instead, she saw him staring directly at the floor.

"I… I had a dream. I was younger, and there was another squirrel in front of me. I think it was him; my cousin. He was making fun of me and told me something about me having to toughen up." He continued staring at the ground, waiting for Moon to respond. Seeing as she didn't, he continued. " I told him his dad was jealous of mine." At this Moon smiled.

"Yeah, you and him were always getting into fights and arguments, and he always came out victorious. He was your father's brother's son, but he didn't get the pure black fur, so he always had a kind of grudge against you and your father." She smiled. "And you never did well at classes. Weapons, tactics, leadership… you did just as well as everyone else, nothing exceptional (in fact, if I remember correctly you were below average in quire a few subjects); nothing like your cousin. Since you couldn't defeat your cousin yourself, you often used to hide behind your father's figure."

She stopped. She looked at Avery, who was staring at the ground. "I…" He began. He looked up to see them and stopped. "I don't remember…" Moonskie smiled sadly.

"I think that's all I'll tell you then. No need to spark some old forgotten memories." She got up. "You never did tell me where you were going…"

"To Mossflower." Biar answered without waiting for Avery.

"Really? Sounds fun. Across the mountains, huh?" Biar groaned and Avery sighed. They would worry about the mountains the next day, which would be once they reached it.

;-;-;

"I had a weird dream last night, father." I say to a squirrel sitting in front of me. I'm sitting on the ground, and it's night.

"Dreams are often weird." The squirrel responds. It has it's eyes closed. I have just woken up.

"Yeah, but, but…" I stammer as I try to find the right words to tell my dream.

"A dream's a dream. Nobeast can explain them, so why even try." The squirrel sighs and keeps it's eyes closed. I look at the ground.

"But it was really weird. I was in a big place, with a lot of flowers n' stuff. There was a mouse with a big sword. It talked to me and said something funny." I say in a low voice. I hear the squirrel sigh again and get up.

"Son, you will gain nothing from dreams, so it is best to ignore them. Just forget whatever dream you have as soon as you have it and don't bother yourself with them." The squirrel says. It walks away slowly. I continue to stare at the ground and mutter.

"But the mouse said that something bad would happen to you, father. He said y' should be careful." I mutter to myself. "He said… something about poison… in my future…"

;-;-;

(ok, so I took a while to update. Just for that I'll put up the next chapter later today. I just moved, and I'm busy with school and stuff. This wasn't the best chapter I could write, but I hope it was fine. Hope you liked the ending. (in case you were wondering what why the ;-;-;, I couldn't put the -'s alone...)

Remember to read and review, please! I'm going to try to update once a week with decent chapters, but it depends on school and stuff.)


	4. ch 4 mountains and abbeys

(Ok, I know I said yesterday, but today's the next best thing, right? At least I feel this chapter is better. (though it might be confusing… ) Enjoy!)

.-.-

"Don't do that, idiot!"

"_You're_ the one that let go of the rope in the first place!"

"Yeah, well, it's your fault for trusting me with it!"

Avery and Biar argued back and forth as they walked across white snow. Moon stood a few paces behind them to avoid the argument. Apparently, Biar had dropped the rope they had been using to climb while crossing a cliff, and they were having a difficult time surviving in the mountain.

"Oh! It's my fault, now, is it!" Avery shouted at Biar through the noise the wind was making. He could hardly see ahead of him, but it didn't stop him from arguing with Biar.

"Yeah! How're we gonna climb down now?"

They had been traveling across the mountain for a few days, and they were all tired of it. The mountain seemed to go on forever, and (although none of them said it, since they shared the belief that if they said it it would become true) for all any of them knew they were lost. That did nothing to raise morale to the three hungry beasts.

Food was running short and they had to ration it carefully; none of them knew when they would get out of the mountain. Both Biar and Avery had reoccurring nightmares that made them sour in the mornings and Moon was usually quiet.

"Where would we climb down? We've been traveling for days and still we haven't found the way down." he shuddered against a cold gust of wind. "It's gonna be a cold night…" he commented.

Avery's prediction turned out to be true. The three beast huddled together with their bit of food and a single blanket behind a sad excuse of a cave that was all they could find to shelter themselves from the cold and fierce wind.

Avery noticed with a bit of surprise that his companions were asleep. He adjusted the blanket a little and closed his eyes with the intention to do the same. Sleep evaded him as part of his trained mind kept focusing on noises outside his range of vision, which was virtually zero since snow was mixing with the mountain's wind to form a blizzard.

The rest of the night went by slowly, Avery being unable to sleep and tensing up with any strange noise outside. He was hardly able to tell it was morning, because the clouds of snow blocked the sun's warm rays. Without much enthusiasm Avery got up.

He looked sadly at the food and took his pathetically small portion. He finished it quickly. Seeing as how the other two weren't awake yet, Avery decided to get a little more rest and huddled under the covers again.

.-.-

Run… run… run…

All I can think about is running. From what? I don't know.

_My legs ache. My paws are tired. But I must run. Run from my past. Run from _him._ Run from them all. _ _I trip and fall on my face. My paws refuse to let me up. I lay on the ground._

_How long do I lay here? I can't tell._

_I feel drowsy, but I know I can't sleep. I force my aching muscles to listen and manage to get up. I can't run; I know my limits too well. How? Why? Why do I remember all this?_

_Is this what Moon was talking about?_

_Is this… the life I had, full of fear of someone and running like a coward?_

_Why are my dreams so detailed now?_

_Will… Will I remember this once I wake up, or will it be another memory only to be reached while I'm asleep?_

_I'm walking, slowly, but still moving forward. There's a curious feeling clutching at my heart. What is it? Have I felt it before? It's… it's something familiar…_

_My vision fades. I'm in the woods. How could I not have noticed before? The feeling deepens. I think I know what it is. Is it… hate?_

_-.-.- _

He couldn't say it was unexpected. After all, most cornered beasts were known to act savagely. He had taken too much of a direct approach.

Derek Bloak, leader of what was left of the Moondarks, sat in a corner apart from the rest of the clan, thinking as he cured a small dagger wound in his left arm.

He had been too careless. The thought that his old cousin might react violently did cross his mind, of course. He just didn't think Avery was ever that good. Then again, it didn't take much to hit a target who isn't expecting it. It just took him by surprise, is all.

He thought it curious that Avery did take the poison he made. After all, his cousin had never seemed much for running away from pain like that. But it was obvious he had taken it; if not, Avery wouldn't have fled. He would have gone full out against Derek and lost. Or so Derek reckoned.

He would try to intercept the strange trio once they were out of the mountains; Derek knew enough not to lead his clan through the mountain, but around. It might take longer, but it was a much safer route.

Once finished cleaning his wound Derek went back into the clan's camp. The Moondarks were a great deal smaller than they had been a few seasons ago, but it was still a clan that could strike fear unto the hearts of other beasts.

With a final look out into the clear, starry sky, Derek entered his tent to stay there during the duration of the night.

On top of the mountains, that same night, the three travelers were unable to look up to see the sky. The blizzard was raging harder than ever, and the sky was completely hidden by dark clouds.

The trio were having a hard time making any progress. Avery led the way, carrying half their provisions. Moonskie was in the middle, carrying the other half. Biar was at the rear, carrying the blanket. Avery had no clue where he was going, but in some part of his mind he knew to head south. That's what he was attempting to do.

One paw at a time. Left, right, left, right. Avery concentrated on keeping his balance and continued walking. Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right…the ground was becoming harder. Was that supposed to mean something?

Left, right, left, right, left, right… something felt definitely wrong. His paws were numb from cold but, from what he remembered seeing the day before, there was a high cliff around there. He remembered… too late.

One following the other the three beasts all fell down the cliff that had alluded their minds until it was too late.

.-.-

I'm waving a dagger around. It looks like it's a class. Am I… dreaming again? I don't remember falling asleep.

"Ha. See, I told you I could." My voice is more mature now; I think I'm older than in my other memories. I'm standing next to a ferret, whispering to him without the instructor noticing.

"Yah, once in a million years. That was just luck." He whispers back. The instructor gives us a dirty look. It is a weasel. It begins to talk to the whole class.

I ignore what he's saying for the most part, busying myself with arguing with the ferret about various things.

"I had a dream last night…" The ferret begins to say. I stop him for a second while the instructor paces in front of us, then I talk.

"Dreams mean nothing. It's best just to ignore them." I quoted someone; probably my father. He seems a little let down, but doesn't show it as we begin the exercise.

.-.-

Avery groaned and got up, rubbing at his left leg, which was the body part he had landed on. To make matters worse, he figured his leg was broken; he'd taken a pretty hard fall and landed on a rock. He looked around himself to find Moon and Biar.

He found Biar first. For what seemed to be quite a bit of uncharacteristic luck, Biar had fallen on a soft spot full of deep snow, and seemed to be sleeping normally and peacefully. It took him a while to find Moon. She had fallen face first on a mound of snow and had rolled over to the shadow of the cliff.

With a burst of panic Avery searched for the rations, which he didn't manage to find. He tried crawling out of the rocky terrain he had landed on without moving his leg, at which he failed miserably. After what seemed like an eternity Avery managed to crawl out of there.

He laid his head in the snow and rested, not knowing or caring what would happen next. Moon awoke first. He looked at her as she climbed out from the shelter of the cliff and came next to him. She seemed unharmed.

"Avery. You're awake but… your leg." She looked sadly at Avery's leg. Avery looked at her and smiled.

"Seems like I'm the only one injured." He joked. She smiled.

"No… Biar still has that hole in his stomach to worry about." She turned around and went to see how Biar was doing.

It took some persuading to get Biar to finally wake up, but they managed. Between Biar and Moon they lifted Avery. They had no clue where to go; their rations were lost. All they had was the blanket.

After a bit of arguing they decided to walk on. After walking for a while it became to much for both Biar and Avery, since both of them were wounded. Moon decided to leave them behind for some time while she scouted ahead. They let her go.

"So, Avey, how's it feel t' be a wounded beast?" Biar said, grinning. Avery, who wasn't in the best of moods, didn't take the comment too well.

"I've been wounded before; it's not like it's the end of the world." Avery barked back. (a/n: I know, I know… rodents can't bark. :P)

"I thought ye said you din' remember your past." Biar said, ignoring Avery's aggressive tone.

"Well, maybe I lied. What do you care?"

"I'm your _friend_ now. I'm supposed to care 'bout stuff like that."

"Who said you were my friend? All you ever do is blame me for everything that goes wrong. What kind of friend is that?"

"A good friend. I'm… uh… preparing you to deal with… uh… harder stuff and such."

"With good friends like that, who needs enemies?"

"You do, my friend, you do."

"Biar, do me a favor and _shut up_." Avery turned sideways so as to not be able to see him.

Three hours passed before Moon came back. Once she did, she brought good news.

"Avey, Biar, guess what? By falling off that cliff, we actually got much closer to the other side than if we hadn't! I went to the south for a while and found grass!" She was nearly jumping with excitement. With a mighty heave she helped Avery and Biar up.

During the hour long walk Moon seemed too happy to notice the strange silence between Avery and Biar. After walking for a while, Avery began to notice that the ground was becoming harder and greener. They stopped after having completely left the snow behind, which was another hour of silent walking. The three travelers set up a small camp. Moon left to look for some firewood and something to burn it with while Biar and Avery cleared a spot to make a fire.

She returned with an armful of firewood and a match she had luckily found on the ground. It took a while to get the fire started but after they did they huddled closely around it.

"Ho, what've we got here?" The voice came from close by. Night had come and it was hard to see too far. They heard a beast approach them slowly, and pretty soon they were able to see what it was by the light of the fire.

A hedgehog is what it was. A large, old, though looking hedgehog. "May I join you all, in this cold night?" It asked. Moon nodded. It began to move toward the fire, when it noticed Biar. "My! What strange company for a squirrel and an otter to keep. A ferret!"

Both Avery and Moon had grown up away from discrimination of 'vermin' and 'good beast', so they had no clue what the old hedgehog was talking about. Biar, however, hadn't had the same luck.

"And why should it?" He asked the hedgehog aggressively.

"No 'arm meant, jus' strange is all." It said. " I'm Bagek, from the northern clan."

"Nice t' meet you, Bagek. I'm Moonskie, this is Avery, and this is Biarie. Avery and I used t' belong to the Moondarks, farther up north." Avery looked at the old hedgehog. Before, when anyone even got a good look at him, they assumed the worst and feared him. This hedgehog, however, seemed never to have heard of the Moondarks.

"The Moondarks, eh? Ne'er heard of them. Where are all of you headed, young 'uns?"

"To Redwall." Avery answered. Moon looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's the plan. Do you happen to know how to get there, Bagek?" Avery looked at the old hedgehog.

"Ya, I know how to get to the old Abbey. Though you might watch your mouth if you want to be let in." He directed those last words at Biar. Biar, in turn, just growled. "You have to travel west for half a day, that's when you'll reach a path. Follow that path and in a few day's time you'll reach the abbey."

The conversation after that turned elsewhere, and the four beasts stayed up for a while longer talking.

.-.-.-

The morning sun brought warmth to every beast, including those in the red sandstone abbey by the name of Redwall. An array of creatures woke up in their nice beds, including the squirrel twins May and Derrick. The two squirrels awoke to the sound of footsteps outside the door, and mischievously sneaked out of bed. They weren't dibbuns, no, they were almost fully grown beasts who loved to play pranks. They opened the door as the footsteps passed.

With a loud 'boo' they sneaked upon an old otter that was unfortunate enough to pass by at the time. The twins fell on their backs laughing as the otter turned on them with a silent but deadly glare.

"Isn't it time for you two to grow up?" The otter said, reprimanding them.

"Yes, mister" The twins chanted in unison. With a final glare the otter turned around.

"Run along now, squins." Squins was the nickname the two had gained after everyone grew tired of shouting 'May and Derrick, no!'. "Go ring the bells and wake everyone up." The two were only too pleased to oblige.

They raced each other to the bell tower, at witch point they rang the bells as loud as they could while enjoying the cool morning weather.

"Hey sis, guess what?" Derrick asked May after they had finished. They had left the bell tower and gone to sit in one of their favorite places; the abbey rooftop.

"What?" May asked without much interest.

"I dreamt that some weird travelers came to the abbey." Derrick said, closing his eyes as if visualizing it.

"Well, that's only in your dreams, Bro. There hasn't been any new travelers here since old Mary, and she didn't like to talk about the place she lived" May answered. The old hare by the name of Mary had come two seasons ago, and died during the winter.

"Yeah, well, it'd be nice if it were like father abbot said how it was when he was young." Derrick kept his eyes closed.

"Yeah, that was like, a billion years ago." May said, making a large hand gesture to emphasize the point.

"Well, wouldn't it be nice if it were like that? I wish I knew more travelers. I wish I could go out and go on big adventures."

"No you don't. The moment you get out that gate you'd only wish to be back in." May sighed. "Maybe we should go down. I think breakfast's started."

"Yeah…" With that the two squirrels got up and climbed down, careful not to let anyone see them. They sneaked into the table and began to eat and chat as if they'd been there the whole time.

After breakfast they went to the gatehouse to bring some food to the young and dedicated otter that lived there. The otter often barricaded herself in to work, with no food or sleep to get in the way of her lifelong dream of organizing and reading all of the abbey's records. There were times when other abbeybeasts had to literally take the door down and rescue a half-starved otter buried among dusty scrolls.

"Open up!" The two yelled together. They heard some scrabbling of footpaws inside and a moment later a young otter with large glasses appeared behind the door.

"We bring you offerings of food!" May teased. The three were the same age and had even gone to school together. The otter frowned and took the tray.

"Is it enough, oh lord of the gatehouse?" Derrick added with a grin.

"Go 'way, squins. I just found a really interesting account of an old mouse that-"

"Really?" May said. "Fascinating." added Derrick. "Can we see?" Without waiting for an answer the squirrel twins jumped over the otter's head and miraculously made their way across the scroll-littered floor to the desk.

"Which one is it?" Derrick asked, picking at a few of the parchments. " 'There was a feast today…' blah blah blah… you wrote this one, didn't you?" Derrick asked, picking an unfinished parchment. The otter blushed and nodded.

"I think this one's it!" May said, picking out a delicate looking paper. Her eyes scanned over it quickly. "My… That _is _interesting." Derrick couldn't recognize a hint of sarcasm in her voice or manner. He went beside her and read over her shoulder.

"That's…interesting." He said. There was no other word for it.

"See, I told you." The gatekeeper said. "Now leave so I can finish it."

"No way, buddy. We're staying here." May said. Derrick nodded. " We're not missing out on this story." She grinned. "wead it to us!" She asked in a baby voice and sat down amid the dusty scrolls on the ground. Derrick followed her example.

"Ug… fine. But promise to leave after I finish." The two nodded and the gatekeeper began.

.-.-

(Yes! Finally, I finished the… fourth chappie! And in a partial cliffhanger too. I need an opinion from the reviewers. I'm not sure if I'm putting too many dreams, so if you could please tell me if you like the number of dreams, or if there's too many, or just your opinion. I'm just trying to improve my story, that's all. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! D )


	5. ch 5 in Mossflower

(Thanks for the review, at least I know someone's waiting for this chapter. I hope it's better than the last, though I might have carried on a little too much with a certain theme… And all Biar seems to do in this chapter is sulk, growl, and glare. Hm…)

,-,-,-

The three travelers, Avery, Moon, and Biar, followed the hedgehog's instructions. Bagek wasn't able to go with them for, as he said, he was on route to visit his grandson that lived father east. They walked a whole day south. The hedgehog had said half a day, but in Avery's current condition the pace was anything but fast.

Avery's injury turned out to be less than a broken bone, but still serious enough to take care of and not overuse. He limped alongside Biar and Moon, trying to keep up and staying quiet. They reached the path without much trouble, and camped nearby during the night. That was how most of the trip was; uneventful.

During the fourth day they ran into some voles, which seemed to scatter and run as soon as they sighted Biar. After long minutes of reassurance from Moon and Avery, they agreed not to run as long as Biar didn't try anything.

"Try something?" Moon scoffed. "We don't even let him _near_ a dagger, or else he might hurt himself."

They talked with the voles for a while, and found out that Redwall was a week's walk away, if they kept a normal pace. Avery averaged it to be more like a week and a half or two weeks at their current condition. The voles left only too willingly, scurrying away from Biar like they thought he would kill them if they turned their backs on him.

"That was a waste of time." Biar said grudgingly. He had been in a bad mood since they got across the mountains. "We shouldn't have bothered…"

"I don't like not knowing when we'll get somewhere, it makes me feel… bad, I guess." Moon responded. "Now we know it isn't too far off." She sighed. "Come on, we'd better start walking now."

Avery didn't say anything. After the fall from the mountain he'd stayed quiet, mostly pondering on the strange bits and pieces he sometimes got from his dreams and imagining what would happen once they got to the abbey if the abbey beasts were like those voles toward Biar.

They walked in silence.

,-,-,-

"'Today the beasts are in an uproar.'" Read the gatekeeper inside the abbey. It was the fourth day the twins had come to the gatehouse to continue the story. Well, it wasn't a story. It was the records of what had happened before even the Abbot was born.

The first part could be easily summarized. During the winter, many seasons ago, a strange traveler had come to the abbey. The traveler was a squirrel, with black fur and injured greatly. The abbey beasts had helped him recover, and the rest of what they read the day before was about the time during the season after. It was an interesting read, since during the whole season beasts were coming from other places telling of rumors of a fearless clan who killed all and had black fur.

The gatekeeper took a long drink of water before continuing. May and Derrick looked at her expectantly. " 'the squirrel that for so long we have cared for left yesterday, taking with him our most treasured possession; Martin's sword.

"'We have been searching the woodlands since the morning, but no trace of him has been found. I personally believe there was more to the odd squirrel than he was willing to tell us, but I guess I'll never find out.'

"That's it. There's nothing more on this parchment." She said, turning it over.

"But… but there has to be! We have the sword right now, so somehow we must've recovered it!" Derrick whined. He went around the floor, picking up random scrolls to see if there was anything on them.

"Oh, stop. You just like listening to stories of bygone days. Get over it, it's not like history will repeat itself or somthin'." May said, but still began to look along with him for the scroll that came next. The gatekeeper sighed.

"Come on, guys. You said you'd leave if I read it to you!" She complained.

"And since when have _we_ kept our word?" Derrick reminded her.

"Please! Just leave!" The otter pleaded. She stopped for a second. "Tell you what, if I find the scroll that comes after, I'll read it to you guys once you come back. I promise."

"Since when have _you _kept your promises?" Derrick asked. "Since always." May whispered in his ear. He looked at her, then at the gatekeeper. "Fine. But you better not lie to us!"

The twins left the gatehouse and went to the main abbey. "Wouldn't it be great if travelers came here more often? I mean, the abbey is supposed to house many guests, but none have come in so long…" Derrick said wistfully.

"Yeah, maybe we should look for them" May said sarcastically. They entered the abbey and walked to where the tapestry of Martin the warrior was.

"Yeah, yeah we should!" Derrick answered excitedly without the tiniest bit of sarcasm in his voice. "We could travel places, and meet others, and tell them to come to redwall!" Derrick was almost jumping with excitement.

"It was only a joke, bro…" May said, looking at Derrick strangely.

"Who cares! Come on, it's been so long since anyone from Redwall traveled, we should go! Are you with me?" Derrick was staring at her also. She sighed.

"Ok… but we're not gonna sneak out or anything like that. Got it? We'll just go tell the abbot and-" She never got to finish that sentence, because at that moment, they heard a shout from outside of the abbey. The two ran to the nearest redwaller and asked her what was happening.

"Th- the old otter Gind and two dibbuns went out to get some fruits… I think that sounded like them!" May and Derrick looked at one another. They hurried off to the battlements, and with such climbing skills that they had learned from their youth they easily climbed over the battlements and jumped onto a nearby tree. They climbed down.

May reached deep into a pocket she had and took out an old dagger. Derrick did the same, but his dagger seemed a little longer. "Let's go!" muttered May. Derrick nodded. They both went in the direction they thought they heard the scream from.

,-,-,-

__

Damn. I'm dreaming again. I'm… in a battlefield. I'm sneaking out of where I'm supposed to be. I climb down a tree. Once I do, I see my cousin standing there, staring at me. His voice sounds urgent.

"He's over there, Avery. Hurry!" He points deeper into the woods. I nod. As I turn, a shadow of a smile appears on his lips. I run as fast as I can toward where he pointed at.

I hear noises as I get closer, and follow them. I get to a large clearing. On the ground, I see beasts fighting. Black fur mingling with non-black fur in combat. I look around trying to see if I can find him.

I do. I look straight at a black squirrel, fighting savagely against three beasts at one time. I jump down from my hiding place and rush toward him, sword drawn.

I attack a mouse that was fighting him, and the mouse fights back. It stabs hard, and gets me in the stomach with a sharp dagger. I fall on one knee. It raises the dagger again and is about to hit me. I summon my strength and stab upwards with my sword.

I feel its warm blood flowing down my sword and unto my paws. I think… this is my first kill.

Why do I have to remember this? I hate it! I want to get up already!

I let go of the sword, not being able to bear so much blood. I look to one side and see the squirrel, which seems to be losing. It falls down, probably more from exhaustion than wounds. I freeze on the spot, unable to do anything as an otter takes a sword and stabs him in the back.

I don't want to see this. I think he's my father. I don't want to remember any more. I want to wake up, now!

,-,-,-

Avery woke up in cold sweat. He looked around at the dark woods around him and sighed. He put a paw on his stomach, and lifted his shirt. There was an old scar there. He sat up.

Biar and Moon were still asleep. They had been making good progress. Avery's leg had gotten a lot better. They had walked for three days, and were positive they might make it to the abbey before the week was over.

Even Biar's spirits seemed to have risen. He no longer sulked as they walked, or make unpleasant noises if any other beast came close. Avery got up.

It was half an hour before Moon woke up, and five minutes after that Biar did. They both found Avery making an odd smelling breakfast with some berries they'd found the day before. Moon and Biar were a bit suspicious about the food, and didn't eat it until they saw Avery himself take a bite out it and stay alive.

"So… how you feelin', Avey?" Moon asked. Avery shrugged.

"Fine. I think we can walk a little faster today." Avery answered. He ate the last bite of his meal and got up. "Come on, I want to get an early start today."

Moon and Biar obliged. They got back on the path and began to walk. By midday they had made pretty good progress. They stopped a while to eat some lunch and got back on the road. As they came on the road they saw a mass of fur running toward them. Avery and Moon instinctively jumped aside, but Biar, who didn't seem to realize what was happening, got hit by the creature.

Biar went flying one way, and the beast the other. Avery and Moon kneeled beside Biar, who was groaning and holding his stomach, which seemed to be the point in which the contact had happened.

The other creature slowly got up, and Avery managed to see what it was. It was… a ferret. A ferret holding at either side of him two tied up little creatures; a mouse and an otter.

"Hey, there. What're you doing with 'em?" Moon asked, slowly rising from where Biar was at.

"Wouldn't ye like to know, trash!" It said in a nasty voice. Avery looked up. Since they had gotten across the mountains, all they had managed to see was 'good beasts' and he had been wondering for a while what the behavior of 'vermin' had to be that made them so hateful to one another.

"Why do you call _us_ trash?" Avery said, also getting up. "There must be a reason why you're running. I just want to know why." Avery tried his best not sound like the other hateful beasts.

"Why do you care? So you can start to throw insults at me like 'dubbun thief', or 'murdering scum'?" It replied sharply.

"Aren't you?" Moon asked, looking at the two critters on either side of him and at the blood on a half-stashed knife. "Well, we won't be quick to judge you with the 'murdering' part, every beast here has had a bad experience with that. Well, apart from Biar, who just got close to murdering himself…" Biar, who had just gotten up, growled.

"Yeah, perhaps. But when a so called 'good beast' murders others, it's called justice. When a ferret or any 'vermin' murder in self defense, it's called 'sin', or 'murder'." It said sharply.

"Not really. I mean, when I was part of my old clan, and _I _killed some beast, people thought of me as a cold blooded killer." Moon said thoughtfully. "And as for dibbun thief, what is a dibbun, anyway? A really stupid way to call young beasts?" Moon asked. The ferret nodded. It was obvious that never before in his life had he met 'good beasts' like that.

"Dibbuns. They must be really spoiled kids, to be given a special name like that." Avery added. "Although I can't talk; I don't even know what they called me." Moon smiled.

"Lil' Avery…" She began to say in a singsong voice and giggled. "Ah, good times." Avery glared at her. Biar looked from one to the other, than at the ferret.

"Ye should really stop stealing young ones, ye know. Gives us a bad reputation." Biar shook his head. "These two are a special case, if you're wondering. They grew up in… in a different environment, let's say." Avery and Moon looked back at Biar.

"What do you mean, Biar? _You_ didn't grow up in an environment like this either." Avery said. Biar laughed.

"Just because I didn't tell you doesn't mean I didn't. You two just got lucky, s'all." Biar sighed. The ferret was looked at them strangely. "Anyway, my name's Biarie Lightpaw, son of Kaydom Lightpaw-" Avery interrupted him.

"Wasn't it Kaydor? You need to get your story straight, Biar, or else you'll never convince anyone your father's a long gone legendary assassin." Avery said cheerfully. Biar glared at him. "Anyhow, I'm Avery. This is Moonskie. We come from the north, past those mountains." Avery waved a paw at the mountains.

"Uh…" The ferret looked around awkwardly, and put the two dibbuns on the floor. He stretched a paw out to them. "I'm Dethto. Ye can call me Deth." Avery shook his paw.

"Deth, eh? What, you bring bad luck to people?" Moon teased. She stretched her paw out to him, but at that moment two creatures jumped from out of nowhere and fell on top of Deth.

"Ha, gotcha, dibbun thief!" The voice came from one of them. They were both squirrels, and seemed to be about the same size. "Back away, miss. He's dangerous!"

Avery smiled oddly, since one of them had just managed to clumsily draw a dagger. "Hey, Biar, if I didn't know better I'd think you'd thought them how to use daggers." Biar growled again. Avery and Moon went up beside the two squirrels.

"Dangerous, is he?" Moon said skeptically. "Dibbun thief?" She lowered a paw to one of the squirrel's backs and pulled him off of Deth. Avery did the same with the other. "Don't know 'bout you, Avery, but I'd say these two are more dangerous than poor Deth here."

"Poor! He killed old Gind and kidnapped those two!" The one Moon was holding shouted.

"Kill him? He's still alive, idiots. I stabbed him in the _hand_. They don't die from a stab in the _hand._" Deth said matter-of-factly as he got up. "And I didn't _kidnap_ them. They said they wanted to leave!" The two squirrels stopped squirming. Avery let down the one he was holding and Moon let down hers. "Well, I gotta go. Don't want a mob of abbey beasts looking for my blood. See you!" Deth walked away as the two squirrels untied the two creatures.

Two very excited dibbuns came out of the ropes, jumping with glee. "That wuz fun!" One of them said. Avery and Moon looked at one another. The two squirrels turned to them.

"Sorry." They muttered, looking curiously at Biar.

"He won't eat you, you know." Avery said. "He's just a poor, injured ferret who doesn't know how to live by himself." Biar continued to glare and growl at Avery.

Moon looked at the two squirrels for a long, silent moment. "My first impression of you two is… Bad. I don't know why, but I get the feeling I don't like either of you very much."

The two squirrels looked at Moon. They looked shocked. "What, you used to everyone loving your childish games, even when you aren't children anymore?" Avery said.

The two squirrels looked at each other. "I- I'm May. This is Derrick." The female one said. "And we weren't doing childish games, we were rescuing them." She pointed at the two dibbuns.

"Oh, and they really needed rescuing, didn't they?" Avery said sarcastically. "Point is, you could've harmed an innocent beast and called it justice. Didn't they ever teach you that you shouldn't judge others just because of their species?"

May and Derrick were really surprised. Not only was this the first time they were lectured roughly like that, but everyone had always liked them, even for all the pranks they played on others . To add to their surprise, the beasts who were lecturing them were no older than them, yet they acted more serious than most old beasts at the abbey.

"You're travelers, aren't you?" Derrick said excitedly, forgetting their situation. "Are you going to the abbey?"

"As a matter of fact, we were considering it." Avery said. "But if two such uneducated beasts are from it, I'm not sure I want to. I mean, Biar here might lose his life if we do." Avery pointed at Biar.

"I- we- but we just- he took us by surprise and- we" Derrick stammered. "Please don't judge the abbey on us, sir."

"Sir? Ha, I'm hardly older than you. I resent that, you know. Just because I lecture you doesn't make me 'sir'. Anyway, I think that as long as you two shut up for the rest of the trip, we'll be fine." Avery said. He looked at Moon and Biar. " I think we can make it. If these two travel for a while with us, they'll see Biar isn't dangerous and then they might convince the others you're harmless and let us in." He whispered to them.

"You got a point, there. I really don't like them though. They're so childish!" Moon said. Biar and Avery nodded. "Fine, at least until we get there."

,-,-,-,-,-,-

Derrick and May walked behind in the group. The two dibbuns went beside the three travelers, greatly annoying Biar when they tried playing 'vermin and good beast'. They would laugh when Biar shoock them off as they tried to 'kill' him.

Derrick leaned in toward May. "Well, they're travelers. Maybe we can get some stories out of them. They're our same age, they might soften up a bit once we get there." May sighed.

"You sure are wistful, bro. Why would they tell us stories when they probably have better things to do?" May said, sighing again. "Anyway, like you said, they're only as old as us. How many stories could they tell?"

"… I guess…" Derrick said.

"Well, maybe…" May said to cheer Derrick up. He smiled.

"We'll be getting to redwall soon, huh?" Derrick said. We din' travel too far, but they-" He waved a paw at the three beasts up in front "don't know how close Redwall is. Think we should tell them?" May seemed to think about it a little.

"We might as well. They hate us already, so maybe this will make them… uh… lighten up a little?" May said thoughtfully. Derrick shrugged and nodded. "You first." May said and gave him a little push forward.

"No fair!" He complained as he jogged a few steps to catch up to the front.

"We're really close to Redwall." He said, ashamed at how his voice came out high pitched. Avery looked at him momentarily, then nodded. Moon ignored him. Biar didn't even hear him, since he was so busy trying to take the sticks the two dibbuns had mysteriously obtained.

"I know." Avery said. He turned around and continued walking. Derrick, feeling very persistent, talked again.

"No, but _really_ close. Like, some hours away close. If you climb a little, you could see it. The only reason we can't from here is because this is a really thick part of the woods." He insisted, pointing in a direction he really hoped was the right one. Avery stopped for a moment to consider if he should believe the squirrel.

"I'll be right back." He said to Moon and a struggling Biar as he silently jumped onto a tree and climbed up. He was surprised to see that Derrick was right. He came down quickly. "Seems like he's right. We should be reaching Redwall before nightfall. What did you say your name was again?" He asked Derrick.

"Uh… Derrick, sir- I mean, uh… What is your name?" He stammered, not sure how he should address the short squirrel.

To his surprise, both Moon and Avery shuddered involuntarily. "Don't like the name, that's all." Avery said shortly after. "My name is Avery, and if either of you call me 'Avey'…"He deliberately didn't say anything after, sending a silent glare at Biar, who didn't see it as he tried to peel of the small otter that had attached itself to his leg.

"Uh, well, I'll just call you Avery then." Derrick said decisively. He turned around and walked back to where May was. "Wow, you're such a moral support." He hissed as he got back.

"I actually thought you did well, bro. Don't know why you're making something out of it." She said off handedly. His expression and tone changed.

"Really?" May gave him a few more petty praises. He smiled and began to feel better. Maybe the arrival at the abbey wouldn't be a complete disaster, after all.

,-,-,-,

(Haha! I finally finished the chapter. I really think I was too cruel to poor Biar… oh, well. He's just the easiest to make fun of. I made this chapter longer, though I forgot that to make a chapter longer, it takes more time. I realize they can't be in the middle of the woods, since they're on the road, but just try to imagine it's a new road _inside_ of Mossflower. Anyway, next chapter should be up soon. In a week, or close to. Please R&R!)


	6. ch 6 the inquisitive redwallers

(I know, I know… I'm not very good at keeping my promises. I'm gonna try harder now, though. Hope you like this chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait. Please read and review!( and thanks for anyone who reviewed) )

,-,-,-,-

"Someone open up! It's us! May and Derrick!" Derrick shouted while pounding on the gate of the old abbey. It was late, the sun had already set. May, Derrick, and the two dibbuns stood in front of the gate, in plain view. Avery, Biar and Moon stood a little way back, hidden by the shadows of the forest.

"What are you two doing out so late! Are those… the two dibbuns that disappeared! According to old Gind we would never see those two again." The soft voice of the gatekeeper came. She was looking at them from the battlements.

"Come down and open the door!" May demanded. "We've got a lot of things to tell you!" She pounded twice on the door.

"Coming, coming, hold your horses…" the gatekeeper said, turning away.

"You'd better mention Biar before they see him." Moon whispered to them. "Last thing we need is a senile old beasts saying Biar's the one who stabbed him and kidnapped them." May nodded.

The gate opened slowly, but the crowd behind it was more than just the young gatekeeper. The abbot stood there, and behind him many more beasts. The dibbun's parents ran forward for their children. May looked hesitantly around. Derrick smiled.

"Guess what, everybody? We ran into travelers! Real live travelers coming here!" Derrick said excitedly. From the shadows, Avery sighed in frustration.

"Really? Where are they, then?" The abbot asked, looking around.

"Well, here's the thing. There's three of them. One's a squirrel, the other is an otter, and the last one is… a ferret. He's a good ferret though, he's not the one who kidnapped them. He wouldn't hurt any of us and the reason they won't come out is because they're afraid something will happen to him if he just comes without a warning." May said very quickly, so they wouldn't have time to say anything while she talked.

The abbot looked at her expectantly. "Well, where are they? I know where their concern may come from, but I assure them that the ferret is safe while inside these walls." The abbot said, looking at May.

"In that case…" Avery was the first to step out of the shadows. Not that it mattered much; his fur made it nearly impossible to distinguish him from the surrounding darkness. Moon came out next, dragging a half-struggling Biar behind her. "I hope you don't mind us staying for a while." Avery said. The abbot smiled and moved aside to let them enter.

,-,-,-,-,

I- I don't know where I am. Everything's dark. I'm sure this is a dream. Is it a real dream this time, or is it another fleeting memory?

My paws are shaking. I'm holding something. A sword. The same sword I have now. It takes me some time to realize that my paws are shaking from exhaustion. I've been practicing for too long.

My body has been pushed to the limit, and I fall. I let go of my sword.

This is a memory. When did it happen? I've been practicing with my sword, that much is clear. But, to practice to exhaustion, that's pretty extreme. My eyes close. I feel tired.

With a sudden movement I sit up, looking around. Where did I get more energy? I see a figure walking toward me.

"You should rest, you haven't stopped swinging that around since-" The figure is one I recognize, but I'm not sure exactly who it is. I struggle to get up.

"I'm fine. Just need to get my mind off things." I say to it. My voice sounds somewhat hardened. I lean over and pick up my sword. I turn around and walk deeper into the woods, not looking back.

As soon as I get out of range of vision of the creature, I collapse. With burning muscles I manage to sheath my sword.

I don't know what this memory is about. I don't really care. My life before… it seems really bad. I have to live my life now, and I'm sure that I can live happily without knowing my past.

A few minutes pass, then I slip into unconsciousness.

,-,-,--,

Avery woke up in the warmth of a blanket. He sat up, looking around in the dark bedroom they had been allowed to use by the abbot. He laid back down again.

He heard the breathing of his companions next to him, and realized they were asleep. Avery lay on his bed for a while. When he finally decided to get up, the sky was already light and he could hear beasts getting up and going to breakfast. He looked over at the two sleeping figures and decided to wake them up.

Moon woke up quickly, but both Avery's and Moon's efforts were insufficient in getting Biar to awaken. Moon and Avery gave up and decided to get breakfast.

They walked down the hallway slowly, taking time to look at their surroundings. They stopped when they saw the large tapestry on the wall.

"It's a tapestry of Martin the Warrior, founder of Redwall." Came a voice from behind them. They both turned around quickly and saw a young otter they remembered from the day before. She was the gatekeeper. "I'm Dayn, gatekeeper of Redwall. Nice to meet you." She smiled and stretched out her hand. Moon took it.

"I'm Moon, this is Avery." She said. The previous night there hadn't been time for introductions; Biar had literally collapsed of exhaustion upon arrival. The abbot decided to give the travelers a little rest and do the questions the next day. "Nice to meet you, Dayn."

Dayn smiled and turned around. "As gatekeeper and recorder of this abbey, I'm the one who gets to write records of this. That's why I feel it's my duty to tell you to prepare yourselves. Be ready to answer questions, too." She walked away, leaving Avery and Moon alone.

"She makes them sound like hunters waiting for their pray." Avery commented, looking curiously at the sword in the tapestry and at the sword on the stand above it.

"Maybe they are…" Moon said distractedly as she turned from the tapestry. "Come on, I'm hungry." Avery nodded and tore his eyes from the tapestry. He followed Moon toward where he hoped breakfast was at. They reached it soon, and sat down on a corner of a table. Not a minute had passed before they were asked a question.

"Where you two from?" Asked a young vole that had changed her seat so she could sit next to them.

"The north." Said Avery.

"Where in th' north?" Asked a squirrel.

" Past the mountains." Moon answered. She took a large bite of food.

"Wuz it preety?" Asked a little mouse that had managed to get past the crowd.

"Uh…"Avery said, thinking. He looked over at Moon. She nodded. "Yeah, yes it was."

"Why did you leave?" Asked the same vole from before.

"Well-" Avery began to answer.

"Stop!" Dayn's voice came from the entrance. "Let's just go outside after breakfast and hear their story there." She said. Slowly the crowd around them spread out again. Dayn took a seat next to Moon. "Sorry abbot that, but you're the first travelers in a very long time."

"Doesn't matter." Avery shrugged. "It could've been worse."

,-,-,-,

After breakfast the creatures of Redwall gathered around Moon and Avery outside. Dayn had a paper in her hand and a pen in the other. They waited for the two travelers to tell their story.

Avery and Moon, however, were having a whispered discussion. "Go on, Moonskie, tell them the story. _I'm_ anxious to hear all that you didn't tell me before."

"No way, Avey. I'll just tell what you already know." Moon said quickly.

"But that would be impolite. After all, we are their guests. Why keep all the facts from them?" Moon was ready to answer when she stopped herself and looked toward all the redwallers.

Dayn, however, had already started to write.

The mysterious travelers are getting ready to tell their tale. They whisper back and forth, as if discussing if they should tell us their story at all. All the redwallers are anxious, especially the squirrel twins, May and Derreck. The otter by the name of moon stops whispering to her comrade and turns to us.

Dayn stopped so she could hear everything Moon said.

"Hello, Creatures of Redwall. I am Moonskie, this is Avery. Our other companion goes by the name of Biar. All of our reasons for coming here are different one from the other. For example, I came with Avery because I had nothing better to do. Biar came because he can't be left alone for too long, and Avery…" She stopped. "Why did you come here?" She asked Avery.

"…" Avery stayed quiet. The reason before had been that he somehow knew in his subconscious that he should go to Redwall. Lately, though, through broken memories which he hardly remembered once he woke up, he had pieced together why he'd wanted to go. The reason was that, a long time ago, his great-grandfather had also gone to Redwall, and at some point in time his father had told him the story.

"Ok… Anyway, me n' Avery belonged to a northern nomadic tribe known as the Moondarks. I doubt any of you have heard of them. Some two or three seasons ago Avery ran away from the clan. Half a season later I did too, along with some others. After I had run away I decided to get as far away from the clan as possible. The group of runaway beasts with me split up, and I went my way alone. After 'bout a season I ran into Avery here, who was with the ferret, Biar, going to the mountains. I joined them and we went to the mountains. Yup, pretty much we just walked here after that and here we are." Moon finished and sat down, nudging Avery as she did so.

He got up slowly. "Um… Well, yeah, that pretty much sums it up." He was about to sit back down when a curious mole maid asked him something.

"Tell us 'uns sommthen bout yer story." She asked. (A/N: Sorry, no good with mole accents). "Why'd yoo run away?"

Avery bit his lip. He thought hard, getting a blurry image of himself running from something he couldn't quite put his paw on. "Well, um, you see… uh… I can't really say that…" He opened his mouth to explain more, but he was interrupted by a series of groans and complaints. "No, it's not what you think!" He said quickly. "You see, I can't really remember anything that happened before about two seasons ago." That caught the attention of most of the beasts there.

"Why?" Asked someone in the crowd.

"Well, I kinda have amnesia. Don't know why, though. Well, guess that's part of it…" Avery said. He bit his lip again and sat down. Moon was staring at him skeptically, but he chose to ignore her.

Dayn's pen was furiously scribbling over her paper.

_"… That's part of it." Avery says and sits down. All the beasts of the abbey are quiet for a moment, then the eruption of new questions begins. The two travelers look wary of answering questions, especially Moon. Jack, the hedgehog, asks a question that seems to be the only one Moon hears. 'Why'd leave _you _leave the clan?'_

"Wow, Dayn, you really need to brush up on your writing skills. _I _could've written something better'n that." Dayn turned around quickly and saw Derrick and May approaching her.

"Quiet, you two, I'm busy." She said quickly.

"Looks like our guests have an inner conflict." Whispered May. Moon and Avery were back to whispering to each other. This time it was obvious there was a debate going on. Moon was frowning and Avery was glaring at her.

"Wonder what it's about?" Derrick whispered to them. May shrugged. Avery's mouth moved slowly, then he got up. He looked around, and left abruptly. Moon glared after him.

"Uh, well… Me? I left because we had an idiot leading us. Avery probably left for the same reason, although he was a completely different case. Crazy, that 'un was. It's a blessing, the fact that he lost his memory." Moon said sharply after Avery had left. A silence followed her words. "Any questions?"

"Uh…" A mouse maid said uncertainly. "Do _you_ know why or how he lost his memory?" She asked shyly.

"Well… the reason is one I might guess, but won't say. As to how, he probably took some poison he'd gotten before. Crazy…" She muttered the last part under her breath. She smiled at the beasts looking at her. "That's all, I think I need to go now." She jumped up neatly and left toward where Avery had gone.

May and Derrick turned to where Dayn was to see her reaction, but she was much too busy writing as fast as she was able to. She finished with a sigh.

"Wonder what happened?" She muttered.

,-,-,-

"That was quite a scene!" Exclaimed Avery when Moon caught up to him. He had gone back to their room, and was sitting in the bed he had slept in during the night. Moon rolled her eyes.

"_I_ didn't make a scene, Avey, you did. _You_ left in a hurry without a word." She said angrily back. Avery rolled his eyes.

"Oh, and calling me crazy and saying I was better off without a memory _certainly_ wasn't a scene." Avery said sarcastically. Moon stayed quiet.

"Why _did _you come here, anyway?" Moon asked quietly after a while. Avery shook his shoulders.

"Don't know. Just felt like it was a good idea, I guess." He stayed quiet for a while, wondering if he should tell her about the bit of memories he managed to salvage.

"You came just because you felt like it. That's the worst lie I've ever heard." She said coldly. "Tell me the truth, Avery."

"Why should I? You won't tell me." He said savagely. He didn't know why he'd reacted so defensively.

"Whatever. I don't care about your reasons. I'm gonna go see if I can save us some faze by going out there and telling them a story of my childhood." She sighed and left. Avery continued staring at the door after she left, thinking hard.

He knew his great grandfather had gone to Redwall at some point. He also knew his father had told him the story of what had happened. He closed his eyes and tried to remember, but came up with nothing. He laid back in his bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing he could remember. He heard a yawn and saw Biar from the corner of his eye.

"Mornin'." He yawned. "Breakfast?"

Avery pointed at the door, indicating it was outside. Biar looked at the doon nervously. He sent Avery a pleading look, which Avery ignored. After a few minutes of doubt he went out. A few seconds after he'd left Avery heard some screeches from young abbey beasts and a voice saying, 'see, I tolya I gots a vermin friend!'.

Avery smiled slightly, but he was still annoyed that he wasn't able to remember. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the noises of daily life in the abbey.

,-,-,-

May and Derrick looked down at the abbey beasts from the rooftop, talking in whispers about the three odd travelers.

"Wonder why she doesn't like us." Derrick said, meaning Moon.

"She's just weird. They all are." May said off-handedly. She felt Moon had overreacted when she said that, and that it was unfounded, but she didn't tell Derrick so. One of them had to act more grown up.

"Yeah, but, we were just trying to help, s'all." He said. He watched Moon talking with a few dibbuns, and the dibbuns staying still as stone, probably listening to a story. "I mean…" He stayed quiet for a while. They both did. They both thought of the same thing. Derrick finally summoned up the courage to say what he was afraid might become true if spoken. "Are we… childish? I mean, so childish that it might get to a point where we could end up…" he left the last part unsaid. May didn't respond for a while, so Derrick thought she hadn't heard him.

"Being childish… isn't a bad thing." She finally answered. "It's just that we've hung so much to our past, to being simple children, I don't think we really took the situation seriously. We took it like children; 'look at the surface and think you've seen it all'." May didn't look at Derrick, but thought of the words she'd just quoted. They had been said to her before by her mother.

"Should we… grow up?" Derrick asked, also avoiding May's eyes. "I mean, act all grumpy like them?"

May smiled. "They _do_ act grumpy, don't they? And they're not all that grown up either. I mean, they ignored their host and started arguing. That doesn't seem very grown up." May said, lifting her spirits along with Derrick's.

"Yeah! They're no better than us!" Stated Derrick, feeling better.

"We should go talk to them, you know, make them know they're no better 'n us." May said decisively. They got up and left the rooftop.

,-,-,

"Why'd he go, father?" I ask, looking into a squirrel's amber eyes. I think it is my father.

"He said a dream told him to." It answers. I open my mouth to ask another question, but he places his paw over my mouth. "Will you let me tell you the story or won't you?" I look down and mutter sorry.

"Your great-grandfather, Abelk, and his niece, Gale, went to redwall a long time ago." I listen intently to the story, although I can tell he isn't a very good storyteller. There is a kind of awkwardness in the way he speaks. "Redwall is an abbey, a long way south from here. Gale and Abelk separated along the way, and Abelk arrived at redwall injured and tired. He lived there for a while, until he heard rumor of Gale.

"He heard she was close by, and had joined a thieving gang of beasts. He decided to chase after her, but he had no weapons. He somehow knew the only way was to take the shining sword Redwall prides itself on. He took it and left. Some nights after his departure he ran into the very same thieving gang Gale was a part of, and the two got into a fierce battle, of which neither came victorious. The spectators of the fight waited until both combatants were unconscious, then they took all their belongings and left them to die. That morning they were found-"

I don't understand what he says very well. I must be pretty young. I-

,-,-,-

"Open up, Avery!" A yell came through the door. Avery opened his eyes slowly. He dragged his body to the door and opened it, only to find the two squirrel twins waiting at the other side.

_"_What d'you want?" Avery asked sleepily. The twins looked at each other, then at Avery.

_"_We just wanted to tell you that-" They broke off as Avery yawned widely. "That… that… " Derrick was stuttering. May decided to take matters into her own hands. "That you're no better than us and we're not just little kids!"

"…" Avery said nothing, looking at them sleepily. "Wha-…?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry, didn't hear you." Avery looked at them again, and then Avery seemed to realize who they were.

"uh… I said-" May began again, just to be interrupted by a yell coming from down the hall.

"May! Derrick! I found the-" Dayn's yells stopped as she reached the two twins. "You won't believe what I've found! I- oh… hey, Avery." She stopped talking as she saw Avery. "Guys, you have to come to see this!" Dayn said excitedly.

"What is it?" "Can it wait?" The two otters said at the same time. Dayn shook her head at the second question and beckoned. " 'scuse us." She said to Avery. May looked at Derrick and shrugged. They left with Dayn. Avery, who was finally awake, decided to follow them silently.

,-,-,-,-,

(oh… cliffhanger. Next chapter: Dayn's discovery! (hehe, neat, huh? A chapter preview…) May and Derrick find out what the discovery is, but so does Avery….Well, that's it, then. Please R&R, remember reviews are always appreciated!)


	7. ch 7 Dayn's Discovery

(ok, so a couple of things before the chapter. First, to anyone who wanted to read my story, sorry! My computer's disc got wiped a while ago, and I got discouraged about continuing to write this story. But I'm back! And I'll try to update at least once a month, with longer chapters. Since I haven't written this story for a while, my style may have changed and some of the characters may have... changed, other than that, here's the seventh chapter!)

--- ---

Derek Bloak had reached a conclusion about the weather near mountains; he loathed it. He wasn't a creature to complain, but the deserted landscape and recently melted snow which swished around his foorpaws as he walked didn't do much to make the landscape desirable. More than that, he wasn't surrounded by the group of bodyguards he had grown used to, because his plan to follow Avery hadn't gone as planned.

He was the leader of what was left of the Moondarks; had been for many seasons. However, he couldn't pretend he made all the decisions by himself. His advisor, a vixen by the name of Jin, was also his best friend. Rather than what he had hoped to do, which was for the the whole clan to go with him after Avery, Jin had talked him into changing his plan.

She had said that it would do no good to his already faltering image to take the whole clan to chase a single beast that, although known, wouldn't really be welcomed anyway. So he had taken the vixen's advice and separated from the clan himself, along with two others he decided should travel with him (a large, strong rat called Rill and a stoat named Tidan) who were currently sitting a little separated from him.

They had been going around the mountains for a couple of days. Rays of soft light showered the small cave on the mountain side, breaking away from the clouds in the sky that threatened to rain. In that cave the three creatures were taking a small break to eat, so as to continue walking.

Derek sighed. He wanted to find his cousin for many reasons, but mostly he was getting worried about how he seemed to get distracted a lot lately, remembering old events, and that didn't very much suit his tastes. Besides, he was very sure that Avery had possesion of something of his, and he really wanted it back. Once again, he wondered why he had acted the way he did when he had run into Avery. "Old habits..." He muttered to himself, shaking his head.

"Did y' say something, sir?" Tidan asked, looking at him from across the cave. Derek turned to him slowly, and glared at him until he turned around again. He hadn't taken the two of them for company, or even for protection; he could take care of himself well enough. However, he knew that there were some feats that were impossible to do alone, plus the fact that the rat, Rill, was more intimidating to most beasts that didn't know Derek than Derek himself, he figured it might help keep away unwanted company.

_It won't be long now,_ he thought longingly, _we should catch up to him soon, and from there..._ a wistful smile spread across his face dangerously, and he licked his lips, running through his head what he thought, no, _knew_ would happen.

---------

Far from the clouded mountains, over Mossflower woods, hardly a cloud was in the sky, so the bright light shone down over the red stone abbey. That light, however, was lost inside the gatehouse, in which a young otter and two squirrels sat, sheltered from it by shelves of dusty books, scrolls and loose papers and of course walls.

"I know I put it right here!" Dayn was saying as she moved the papers and contents over her desk frantically, looking for a scroll in particular, one which she was certain she had placed on top of her desk before she went to fetch the squins.

"What was it?" May asked, a little edge in her voice. She was annoyed that Dayn had interrupted her confrontation with Avery, however badly it may have been going. Not only that, but Dayn still hadn't told them what she had found.

"The scrooll!" She said, throwing down a book on top of her desk, looking very frustrated. "The scroll that I found this morning. The scroll that carries the accound of the otter who was in charge of the group of redwallers that followed the dark otter that had stolen the sword." She explained quickly, looking around again.

"Really?" May felt her annoyance vanish into the air, and stood up from the ground, where she and Derrick had taken a seat shortly after entering the gatehouse. "Are you sure you put it there?" She asked, looking around at some papers at the floor near the desk. Derrick got up too.

"Maybe you just thought you did but didn't put it on the desk..." He suggested, checking a different pile of books.

"No! I'm sure I put it on the desk. I had just begun reading it when I realized what it was, so I closed it, put it on top of my desk, put..." She picked up a bottle of ink. "...this on top of it just so it wouldn't fall off the desk, then I went to find you two!" She sighed and collapsed on the chair. "I have no clue what could've happened to it..."

May and Derreck didn't give up, suddenly driven by their curiosity of finishing the story they had started to hear. So they kept looking, even going far from the desk, each of them remembering how Dayn sometimes tended to think she had done or said something she hadn't, like the time she thought and swore to them she had prepared the knots on the rope they were going to use to try a stunt they had seen and... well, Derrick was then forced to stay off his leg for the next couple of weeks.

"This breeze is stirring up more dust than we are..." Derrick complained when he began checking a shelf next to an open window.

"Breeze?" Dayn asked suddenly, getting up and going over to where Derrick stood. "That doesn't make any sense..." She muttered on her way. When she got there and saw the open window, she shut it quickly, raising with the action some dust that was on the windowsill.

"You forgot to shut the window again, 'ayn?" May joked, walking over next to them.

"I didn't forget, I couldn't have forgotten to close it because I never _open _them in the first place!" Dayn responded, annoyed and confused.

"No wonder this place is always so musty... you never open the windows? Has the lack of oxygen damaged your brain? You need fresh air! This place gets even worse without fresh air..." Derrick noted, frowning a little.

"The wind makes everything start flying!" Dayn said, managing to make it sound extraordinarily like an excuse.

"Riiight..." May teased, smiling and picking up some papers from the floor.

"But really... I don't know how that window got open. Someone else has to have opened it..." Dayn said, frowing.

"Maybe someone stole the scroll." Derrick said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Why would someone steal the scroll?" Dayn retorted skeptically.

"Maybe something incriminating was written on it?" Derrick suggested, hesitant to discard his theory.

"But who could it have been?" May asked, following on Derrick's idea.

"_No one. _Nobody stole the scrolls..." Dayn insisted, and was ignored.

"Maybe one of the _travelers_." Derrick suggested, his eyes shining and emphasizing the word. "I mean, look at Avery; he has black fur and comes from 'the north'. Maybe he's related to the black furred squirrel that stole the sword!"

"Maybe..." May agreed. "Though maybe it could be someone from the abbey. Maybe whatever was written that didn't want to be read wasn't about the following of Martin's sword at all, but something completely different!"

"Guys, you're getting carried away..." Dayn said reasonably. "No one stole the scrolls; no one except you two know that I found it, and they wouldn't even know what it's about..."

"As far as you know." May stated.

"You don't know how many people had seen scrolls here before you became gatekeeper, which was... not that long ago, if I remember correctly." Derrick added.

"You don't know everything." May continued.

"I know I don't!" Dayn said, now annoyed. "You know what? Just go... I'm sure I'll find it later. All you're doing right now is messing up the places of everything."

"Oh, don't be like that!"

"They were already really messy..."

"It's not as if they were in any order, anyway."

"We could find the scroll faster than you...!"

Excuse after excuse the twins continued to throw reasons at Dayn about why they should stay, which she ignored as she managed to get them out of the gatehouse and close the door behind them.

-----

"Rude!" May muttered to herself and Derrick. Once again, they were sitting in the roof, talking and looking down at what everyone else was doing. The cloudless sky had changed in the last hour, which was when they had been thrown out of the gatehouse. Menacing shades of gray filled the afternoon sky, and the moist air around them warned of the coming rain.

"It's because people are as close minded as that that problems arise." Derrick agreed, throwing a small rock down from the roof in a moody manner. "Why did she get so mad at us like that? We were just thinking of perfectly plausible theories of why the scroll was gone and she got really mad." He sighed and threw down another pebble.

"Yeah..." May said distractedly. "Hey, bro..."

"mm?" He turned to look at her, about to throw another pebble.

"She's not mad at us, right?" May asked quietly.

"Of course she's not! She acts like that, but she'll be back to normal at dinner, you'll see." Derrick reassured her.

"Right... of course..." May smiled a little and looked down at the ground, then took the pebble from Derrick's paw and tossed it at the ground.

-----

"You did _what_?" Moon asked in frustration. She was sitting outside the abbey, close to the pond and under the shade of a tree; not that it was necessary, since the clouds were already doing a good job of hiding the sun. Next to her sat a very jumpy Biar.

"It's not such a big deal, really..." He was saying, although his tone suggested he didn't really believe what he was saying.

Most of the redwallers were already indoors and out of the way of the soon-to-come rain, so it was safe to say that Moon and Biar were alone in their conversation.

"Biar, we leave you alone for one minute-"

"Don't talk to me as if you were my parents! You're younger than me!" Biar suddenly interrupted. "You and Avery act so high and mighty, but you forget you're not actually any better than everyone else." He sounded annoyed.

"Oh, right, so I suppose we stab ourselves in accidents and nearly die the first time we try to live for ourselves..." Moon said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She waited a second, then added, "and how do you know you're older than us? You don't even know how old we _are._"

Biar stayed determinedly silent, glaring at her, obviously angry. She sighed.

"Fine. Sorry. But that doesn't excuse you from..." She frowned a little and waved her paw in a vague manner, "what you did."

"It was just a little comment, no more..." He said finally, after a long silence from both their parts.

"A little comment! You should be glad Avery was there to stop you before you went further." Moon said forcefully.

"I still don't see why you both are being so secretive!"

"Listen, even if you don't, you shouldn't go about telling those... redwallers everything you know about us..." Moon explained.

"'Everything I know about you'? I hardly know anything! All I know is that you're from some obscure clan in the north and Avery poisoned himself to forget it all. From what I heard, _you'd_ already told them that much."

Moon stayed quiet and sighed. Of course, there was no reasoning with Biar, he was worse to deal with than even Avery. "Just... don't tell them anything more about us, okay?" She finally said.

Biar hesitated, then nodded. "It's starting to rain, maybe we should go."

Moon nodded, but made no motion to stand up, and neither did Biar.

"Who was Avery?" Biar asked suddenly. Moon looked at him, then down at the ground.

"Avery was... Avery." She said softly.

"What do you think we're doing here?" Biar asked again.

"Me? Getting away, doing something other than sitting around in an abandoned shed. I can't say anything for you or Avery."

"I'm just here because I had nowhere else to go." Biar admitted. "And I'm still surprised they're treating me so well..." Moon gave him an odd look. "Oh, come on, you know about the racial prejudices. After all, I _am_ a ferret."

"But this place seems different..." Moon looked away from him and up at the sky, where already a few drops of water had already begun to fall. "It reminds me of how it used to be, when Avery's dad led the clan." She smiled.

"It can't have been that long ago... you're both pretty young."

"I'm actually older than I look. I have memories of Avery's father before Avery was even born." Moon said.

"Really?" Biar looked over at her. "How old _are _you?"

Moon smiled and stood up, then stretched upwards. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She smiled. "Come on, I think we need to talk to our lil' friend Avey." She shook some water off her fur. Biar stood up also, and they both ran under the rain to reach the shelter of the roof.

-----

Back in the room the abbot had let them stay inside of, Avery was on his bed, a pillow over his face as he tried to fall asleep. The sound of rain outside didn't help much, for he found it oddly unsettling rather than calming. It was already late, though he knew the sun hadn't yet set. Dinner must be either soon, or already started.

His stomach growled. Yes, he was hungry. He tossed the pillow from his face as he sat up. He wanted to avoid talking to the redwallers after what had happened earlier, but he guessed there was no way around it if he wanted to eat without going back into the woods and eating fruits or the like.

He sighed and stretched after standing up. He walked to the door and opened it just in time to see May and Derrick jump inside through a window in the room across from his. He stared at both of them for a second, just as they stared at him, like two thieves caught in the act, unmoving. Their fur glistened with water; they were soaked. Then he turned and started down for the (eating place... arg, can't remember what it was called).

The main reason he had walked away like that was because he didn't feel like being near them. He had followed them earlier to the gatehouse, for reasons he wasn't quite sure of. He had listened in on some of their conversation, something about a scroll that was lost. He had left soon thereafter, thinking it had been stupid to follow them in the first place, but somewhat curious about who 'the dark otter' was, and wondering if it could have anything to do with his great grandfather.

Soon after he had left the gatehouse, he had found himself walking along the dewy grass inside the abbey, staying away from any large group of critters, that is, until the abbot of redwall had decided to go and join him on his walk.

Avery stopped next to the tapestry of Martin. He looked up at the sword that hung above it, and inched closer for a better look.

It looked very familiar, a lot like his own sword, actually. Except that Avery's sword was a bit shorter and with a different design, as well as his name engraved on it. Yet, even so...

He shook his head and backed away. It must have been his imagination. The sword was completely different from his, he could tell even the metal used for the blade and the materials on the hilt were different than the ones used on his sword, though he didn't know exactly what they were. Now that he looked at it from a bit of a distance, he couldn't figure out why he had thought even for a moment that they were similar, apart from being swords.

His eyes strayed to the tapestry itself, and he stared at the image of the warrior mouse, Martin, he had been told his name was. Martin the Warrior, a legend in Redwall, and Avery got the impression Martin's reputation wasn't held back by the walls of the abbey. His paw strayed forward, but he stopped before touching the tapestry, realizing how old it must be and that something might happen to it if he touched it.

"All I want to know is why you look so familiar..." Avery muttered and turned, leaving the tapestry behind. He couldn't figure out how Martin could look familiar; the only mice he figured he knew in his past must have all had their fur dyed black, so they couldn't look like him, and anyway, he didn't think it would be easy to forget meeting someone that looked like that.

"Avey!" He recognized the voice right away, but didn't even get the chance to turn around when he felt his shoulders dampen with water as Biar threw his arm across them. He shrugged them off and ducked.

"Ah, you're wet!" He complained, glaring at him.

"I didn't know you didn't like water..." Moon's voice came from behind him, and as he turned she shook her fur and splashed drops of water everywhere, but especially on Avery.

"I'm a squirrel!" he protested, getting away from her and trying to avoid any more water. "Plus, you get really cold afterwards..."

"You didn't mind snow back in the mountains..." Biar pointed out. Avery turned toward him, and glared.

"It's completely different. Snow is snow. Water is water." Moon opened her mouth to point out that snow was just frozen water, but stopped when she heard some footsteps behind them.

The three of them turned and say May and Derrick, who were also heading for dinner. They stared at one another for a while, then Moon finally decided to speak.

"Well, I'm hungry." She said simply, and began walking again, after which Avery and Biar followed, and a few moments later, May and Derrick.

--- ---

Avery, as well as Moon and Biar, were astonished by what they saw once they reached (place where they eat dinner . ). The tables had been moved to different positions, as well as adorned with various mantle tops and plates, as well as delicious looking food that sat on top of the intricately designed mantle. On the walls and roofs, decorations had also been placed, mostly in soft green colors though yellow and red poked out from some places.

Dinner had already started, and it was definately a cheerful event. From what Avery managed to get a clear picture of, most of everyone was eating amongst the merry clamor, and those that weren't, Avery guessed were already really drunk, for they were standing and trying to sing and/or dance.

Plenty of food was left, so Avery, Moon, Biar, and even May and Derrick scurried to a place on the table, where their arrival was hardly noticed through the noise and entertainment. May was separated from Derrick by a mole who was chugging a large mug of Ale, and a few spots away, Moon and Biar were separated from Avery by almost half the table, since they had only found open spots at those places. They had hardly begun to eat, when the abbot stood up from his large, ornate chair, and said a couple of words Avery hardly heard, though he noticed through the corner of his eye that Dayn, who was sitting practically across from him, had taken out a small piece of paper and was quickly scribbling something on it. He craned his neck a little, a piece of bread in his mouth, to see what she was writing.

"Most beasts don't like people getting looked at in secret." Said a voice behind him, and Avery quickly turned his head, barely managing not to strike out in surprise. The abbot stood behind him, his old, droopy face stretched into a knowing smile, and his black eyes glinting a little dangerously.

"Ah wa'nn't g'oing anth'n 'f fe fort" Avery attempted to say, the bread still in his mouth, he took it out and swallowed, then tried again. "I wasn't doing anything of the sort." He lied clearly.

"Right..." The abbot said, turning away a little. "The real entretainment is about to begin, I should suggest for you not to miss it." He said, then turned and continued to walk, getting pulled into a conversation a couple of Otters were having about the proper way to make some-or-other kind of soup.

Avery stared suspiciously at the abbot for a few seconds, then turned back to the table, only to find his appetite greatly diminished. He stared at the bread in his paw, then sighed and tossed it aside, on his plate.

"It's the Beginning of Spring feast." Dayn's voice rolled over toward him over the noise, in an explanatory tone.

"Is it?" Avery looked over at her. "Do you celebrate the begining of all seasons, or just this one?" He asked, having to speak a little loudly to get heard.

"Oh, we celebrate the beginings, ends, and other stuff in the middle of all the seasons!" She said, raising her voice a little more since the noise around them was actually getting louder.

"Wouldn't that mean that you had an end of winter feast not too long ago?" Avery nearly shouted at her, but she smiled and nodded. She pointed her paw towards a door, indicating that it might be more quiet outside. Around them, many beasts were moving around, and what sounded like some kind of song started, with an array of instruments Avery wasn't very familiar with. He stood up, and Dayn followed, so they moved across the crowd that was now standing up to finally reach the door.

It wasn't quiet, but it was considerably more silent than at the table. There were a few beasts around, but mostly young critters, who were having fun playing a game that involved chasing each other around the room, avoiding the adults, and trying to avoid the ones on the other side, also. Avery didn't quite understand the game, but he watched it for a while before he saw Dayn appear beside him and break him out of his trance.

"We actually get feasts all the time; any excuse for a feast is reason enough to have one." She explained, in a quieter tone.

"Oh." He said, then looked at her. "That's..." He thought for a second, searching for the right word, "interesting." He finally decided. She chuckled a little.

"Guess it is. So, uh..." She looked at him, then hesitated, her mouth half open, as if she was thinking of weather or not to say something more.

"Say what you want to say." Avery said, a little annoyed, but supposing it couldn't be helped, due to his reaction earlier in the day when faced with the redwaller's questions. Even though he said that, she still looked hesitant. "Listen, I won't be offended by anything that you ask, alright?" He said, a bit of his annoyance showing in his voice.

"Alright..." Dayn said, still unsure. "I was just wondering... well, you see, you know that your friend, Moon, she went and told some redwallers a couple of things about her life in that.. clan of hers. And yours too, I suppose. Not that's she's a very good story-teller, she tells everything up font and doesn't really give time for suspence... very blunt, actually. Some of her-"

"I get it; she's no good at telling stories." Avery said, recognizing the nervousness in her voice. "Go on."

"Oh, right. Well, yeah, so anyway, I was listening to her talk about her life, and I couldn't help but notice that... that clan all seems to have, uh, dark fur." She stared at Avery, who nodded for her to go on, trying to guess what she was getting to. "So, well, some time ago, I came across the record of... a dark furred squirrel that came to this abbey, a long long long time ago."

"Yes, so?" A cold wave spread through Avery's body, though he wasn't sure why; he wasn't hiding anything.

"Well, actually-" She was cut short when a swaying otter, who Avery supposed must have been both very drunk and trying to dance with the fast-paced music that, he now realized, a group of creatures were playing, and singing was delicate looking Vole, in a voice that didn't suit her too much , fell on top of Dayn and knocked her to the ground..

_He left, oh, he left  
He left and no one saw her  
Have you seen 'im since?_

Avery managed to hear a few lyrics of the cheerful song, but he was more interested in the otter that was now trying to untangle himself from Dayn, quite clumsily and just making it worse. Avery kneeled beside them and tried to help, but felt sharp pain in his paw as the drunken otter actually bit him.

"Ow!" He said, retreating his paw and glaring at the male otter, who had finally managed to sit up away from Dayn, who looked startled and flushed.

"Why'd you do that?" The otter said nastily, turning on Avery and baring his teeth at him. Avery, who wasn't much in the mood for a fight, tried smiling in a disarming way, which he knew mustn't look too convincing, since he was mad at the otter for biting him.

"Do what?" Avery asked softly, barely loud enough to be heard through the music.

The otter was silent and kept glaring at him, then jumped out at him out of the blue. Avery's eyes widened a little, yet his reflexes were enough to dodge the mass of flying fur that dived for him.

"Kale!" Avery heard Dayn's voice as she hurried over to the otter, who was getting up again after missing his lunge. "What are you doing!" She demanded, grabbing his arm tightly. Around them, no one seemed to have noticed anything was wrong, so the music went on normally, though the song had changed, and was somewhat calmer, though no less loud.

Avery stood up straight, but kept a wary eye on the otter Kale. However, that didn't do much good, since the next moment Kale had disengaged himself from Dayn and dived for Avery again, who, trying to dodge backwards, bumped into an unsuspecting mouse and fell to the floor. Kale, whose reactions were faster than Avery had expected, got on his knees and pounced at Avery who was already on the floor.

Avery rolled over, trying to pry him off, but the otter's paws were already holding Avery's tunic tightly. Kale made a jerky motion, which made both him and Avery roll on, and stop once they hit a wall. Then Kale, who ended on top of Avery, threw a punch, which Avery managed to stop by bringing his footpaws close to his chest and kicking out, knocking the breath out of him and giving time for Avery to stand up.

Kale, even with the wind knocked out of him, stood up and thew another punch at Avery, which hit him on the side of the face, because Avery wasn't being careful enough, thinking that the kick before would have been enough to end the fight. With the punch, Avery staggered, but couldn't help his action afterwards, which was for himself to lunge at Kale, and throw him on the floor below him.

Kale moved wildly under him, in movements Avery knew that he had never seen before. Avery tried throwing in a punch, but in the flurry of fur beneath him, the moment he hit Kale, he felt Kale's paw lunge into his stomach. He reeled backwards and stood up, with Kale close behind, teeth bared, as if he meant to bite him.

"Enough!" The voice broke through to Avery's mind like a bucket of water. He blinked a couple of times, then realized it was the abbot that had spoken. He looked around, a little disoriented.

The music had stopped. Everybeast, even the drunken ones, were completely silent, and watching a scene. He noticed a few looked a little injured, and figured they had been unfortunate enough to either be on the way, or to try to pry them apart. Finally, he noticed Moon and Biar, who were both staring at him from the front of the little circle that had been formed around Kale and himself. Moon had a look of disbelief on her face, while Biar looked more startled and a little scared.

He looked back at Kale, who had stopped attacking him, and stood upright in front of him, though swaying a little. His chin was beginning to bruise where Avery had punched him, and he was swaying slightly, but looking determinately challenging for Avery. Avery felt some pain on the side of his face, as well as his back; he had crashed into something during the fight, he realized.

The abbot stood in from of Kale and him, looking at them both seriously. "Kale, what is this about?" he asked calmly, directing himself at the otter. Kale's face broke into a crazy smile, and he spit out some blood at the floor. It was then that Avery realized that Kale wasn't really drunk; just acting so.

"Nothing, father abbot, sir. " Kale said, in an amazingly coherent voice. "He just annoys me." He turned a little, then glared at Avery. The abbot sighed.

"Kale..." He began.

"Well, I must excuse myself." Kyle interrupted, then walked past the abbot, across the crowd of beasts, who parted as he walked close to them to let him pass, and went out of the hall. As those creatures moved in to fill the space again, Avery could have sworn he saw somebeast that looked very much like Dayn go after him.

"Well, at least nobody was seriously injured..." The abbot said, to no one in particular. "Come on, let's finish this feast." He smiled, and the crowd of creatures made murmurs of agreement, and in a couple of minutes a few different beasts had begun singing a song.

"When I said there would be entertainment, that wasn't what I meant by it." The abbot murmured into Avery's ear. Avery stared at him, then looked away.

"It wasn't my intention to fight back." Avery tried to explain.

"Oh, but it was definitely Kale's intention." The abbot said. Avery looked at him and frowned questioningly. "He doesn't seem to have taken a liking to you." He elaborated.

"That much is obvious..." Avery commented.

"Yes, well, Kale is... different. From everyone else here. He doesn't really live in Redwall, though I'm sure he thinks of it as his home. The place where he normally sleeps, however, is in Mossflower, not too far from here, though. " They had begun walking outside, leaving the din of the slowly re-growing feast behind.

"Alright..."

"Well, he... I'm not sure I should be telling you." The abbot said, looking carefully at Avery. "I'm sure he would be angry if I told you of his life. However, I should warn you, he'll probably try something again, and he's no peace-loving beast who's never seen a fight in his life, I should mention." He added.

"I noticed. Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me where he learn-" He was cut short.

"I'm afraid I don't actually don't know the details, though I'm sure there must be someone who does." At this point, they were already outside of the Abbey, but the rain had stopped, although the grass was wet. "Oh, and Dayn wanted a word with you. Have you spoken to her?"

"Uh, yeah. We were cut short by..." He didn't need to finish the sentence for the abbot to undertand, so he just nodded.

"Well, I think I'll go back to the feast. Keep what I said in mind, young Avery." He turned and walked back inside. As soon as he was far enough, Avery dropped the polite smile he'd had on his face and frowned. It wasn't that he disliked the abbot, but something about him just really unnerved him, and he didn't trust him too much. Especially by the short conversation they'd had that morning, which, short as it had been, Avery knew had been filled with hints and implications, if he happened to read in between the lines of what had been said.

"Well, that was bizarre." moon's voice came from behind him. Avery turned and stared at her blankly. "Don't tell me you didn't notice..." Biar was behind her, still looking a little nervous.

"Notice what, of all things that _could_ be noticed?" Avery asked, feeling very tired.

"That otter's fighting style. It was _bizarre_. I've never seen anything like it, though it actually seemed like he knew what he was doing..." Moon answered.

"He was just lunging blindly and trying to get any punch in, though." Biar cut in.

"No, I'm sure I could've stopped him if that was the case." Avery pointed out.

"Well, who's the cocky one?" Biar muttered.

"He isn't being cocky." Moon responded. "That otter... he acted like he was throwing random punches and attacks, but he managed to corner you to make you dodge into someone, then letting himself be hit like that to lower your guard..."

"He let himself be hit? how do you know?" Biar asked, feeling more ignorant with every word out of his own mouth.

"Well, there's a difference between a seasoned fighter and what you thought he was.. It's... hard to explain." Moon said. "But he was ready to be hit, which was why he stroke back so quickly. I've never seen a style like that before."

"Definitely risky, though it paid off." Avery admitted. "I don't really remember any fights I've had, but I'm usually well off just depending on my instincts from before. If I was hit like that, I'm pretty sure the old me would've been hit as well." He said reasonably.

"No way." Moon said quickly. Avery looked at her for an explanation, but she remained silent.

"Okay... On another matter, what in the world did you say to him?" Biar asked after a short silence.

"Nothing. He lunged at me out of the blue!" Avery responded, wondering why Biar thought he had provoked the otter.

"Oh..." Something in Biar's voice made it clear he didn't really believe Avery.

--- ---

"You idiot! What were you thinking!" Dayn yelled loudly. She was in the gatehouse, accompanied by a certain otter named Kale. Kale winced at her yells, but she didn't stop. "You don't just attack a guest here in Redwall! And for absolutely no reason! It was stupid, careless, idiotic, and... just plain STUPID!"

"I know, I know!" Kale muttered weakly. "I'm sorry, Dayn... I really am. But I can't stand the guy!" He said defensively.

" 'You can't stand the guy?' You said two words to him! While I was talking to him. Couldn't you have at least have the decency to wait until we were finished talking before bursting in like that?" Dayn exhaled in an exasperated way.

"Yes, but he's annoying as hell! Really... " Kale muttered. "Sorry, Dayn." he repeated.

"Ug, you.. you... Urgh!" Dayn began to pace, trying to calm down. Most of the time she was calm, thoughtful, and patient, but when it came to Kale, she could change drastically.

"What did you have to say to him, though? I was listening, and you didn't seem to be going anywhere..."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I was!" She glared at him, then took a few more deep breaths, and sat down on a chair herself. "I found something very interesting in the archives." She said.

"You mean there's actually interesting things here?" Kale looked around. He had never learnt to read, and his general mentality was that no book could be enjoyed nearly as well as if someone told the story out loud. Dayn glared at him.

"Anyway" She continued, ignoring him. "They were about a black furred squirrel that came here a while back, and stole Martin's sword. It took me a long time, but finally, today, I found the second part of the tale, about how they got it back."

"And?" Kale asked expentantly.

"It was stolen."

"Oh"

"But I actually read quite a bit of it..." Dayn admitted. " I didn't let the abbot know, though, the only ones that knew it existed and that I found it, think I didn't read it at all. You just have no clue what was written inside of that..." Her face glazed over, and it stayed there for a few seconds. "You see, most of the stuff I figured out, I did so later, after I'd thought about it for a while. And the conclusions I reached are... unbelievable. And if my suspicions are correct, then they also affect two of our dear guests."

--- ---

(Ok, chapter finished! Well, I need to ask a couple of things to anyone who might read this. First, do you know of anywhere where there is ANY Redwall book on the internet? I live in Costa Rica, so it's hard for me to find the books themselves, otherwise I'd buy them. I haven't read one in the longest time, and as you may have noticed, I really forgot what Redwall was like in the inside. Second, if someone notices a mistake in consistency with the other chapter, please tell me.

Other than that, I should be writing a lot more often now, though the chapters might not be as long as this one. If I go at the pace I did with this chapter, I might have a next one up before next week, but that's to be seen. Thank you for reading, and don't miss the next chapter, where, dun dun dun, Dayn finishes her conversation with Avery! and more, of course. )


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